Where Demons Fall and Angels Rise
by StormDaDrains
Summary: Julius "Jules" Carper grew up with the IMC- His father an officer, his mother an architect, him a pilot. His loyalty was undying, and would follow the IMC wherever they went. However, after a mission gone wrong leaves hundreds of innocent civilians dead at the feet of the IMC, Jules defects to the Militia, with only one goal in mind: Right his wrongs, and keep them from repeating.
1. Chapter 1: Labrador

"Oi!" shouted a familiar voice over an intercom. Jules and the other pilots looked at one another, almost scoffing.

"This fight is what you were born for," They all droned together, before laughing with one another. It had seemed that the Apex Predators forgot to unhook their PA link to the regular IMC pilot's drop ship. It happened every time they would drop in, and they all became familiar with Blisk's catchphrase.

"Alright boys! You know the drill!" shouted the commander over their own intercom. All the pilots got up in unison. It was the regular outfit: Hard hitting commandos with fast moving titans in the front, outfitted in light gear, the newer pilots in the middle, and the spec ops in the back. Luckily, Jules was in the front, he wouldn't be getting the bulk of anti-air.

A spectre pulled down on the lever that opened up the latch door, and the commandos jumped out, hitting the ground. They were on the small planet of Labrador, attempting to repulse a Militia attack force. The planet itself was rocky and ugly, and had only been used for mining the rich ores of copper and steel, usually going to the titan armaments. If they lost this planet, the IMC would definitely take a hit in ability to arm their vast fleet of titans.

Jules racked the action on his R-401C, before looking around. The attack was in full swing, with titans already being sent down all around the AO. The newly dropped pilots would be at a serious disadvantage, as the boys on the ground for a while would be given priority.

"Jules, Walker, Tripp! Make your way to the copper purification center!" Said the captain over their radios. Jules looked back at his two fellow pilots, and they took off at a sprint towards the center, marked on their HUDs.

Around them, it seemed that the sky was falling. Well, technically, that's exactly what had been happening. Drop pods, drop ships, titans, reapers fell around them. It was dangerous for the trio, but they had to keep on moving. It was about 1 click to the purification center, and the way seemed pretty clear, as even the Militia weren't dumb enough to send their drop pods into enemy territory.

They rounded a massive energy plant, and saw what looked to be a Brute class titan closing in on a group of grunts. Jules looked back at Walker, who was the commando's resident anti-titan pilot, who then nodded and sprinted towards it. Tripp and Jules continued towards the purification center.

The Brute had trained in on Tripp and Jules, and had raised his acolyte pods, when he was suddenly hit by a direct blast of a fully charged charge rifle. It melted off one of the acolyte pods, as Walker used his grappling hook to hook to the titan chassis. As soon as he hit it, he used his charge rifle to blow off the other acolyte pod, before pulling out the battery and tossing in a frag grenade. The pilot ejected, attempting to engage Walker, but Walker was ready, his EVA-8 shotgun tearing the pilot in half. He trailed along behind the duo, as they approached the station.

As soon as they got there, they were under fire by spectres on the upper levels. They had been trained to avoid spectre gunfire, as their hardware had a very predictable way of tracking pilots. They avoided the spectres with ease, before scaling the station, and hitting the top level. Tripp used his hacking knife to turn the spectres onto IMC control, before continuing inwards.

The trio used the moment they got into the building to take a breather. Despite being pilots, they could still run out of breath.

"Helluva run, eh?" asked Walker, and Tripp scoffed.

"Yeah, and we didn't even have to take down a titan," Said Tripp, before slapping the action on his VOLT submachine gun. "How the hell did you take that thing down so easily?"

"New pilot I'm guessing, didn't even have a helmet," Said Walker, before loading a single round into his EVA-8 shotgun. "Kinda feel a bit bad about it."

Jules stayed silent, before standing up. "You didn't have a choice: You or him."

"Fair assessment," said Walker, standing up. Tripp followed.

The trio moved through the dark hallways of the factory, ocassionally coming across some spectres that they took out with ease. Their own spectres had moved on ahead of them, and every so often they'd find a destroyed chassis. They could hear the yelling of grunts inside the building, and often times they were panicked or filled with fear. They knew the pilots were coming. Tripp rounded a corner and opened fire, before sprinting into the room, followed by blood curdling screams often cut off abruptly. Walker and Jules casually turned the corner to find the cafeteria covered in blood, bodies, and bullet holes. Tripp dropped a magazine from his VOLT, and loaded in another one. The trio moved on silently, before clearing another floor, and another, and another.

Within half an hour the entire station had been cleared, and those who hadn't been killed were running away. Walker, Tripp, and Jules made their way outside, before looking around.

"Any minute now..." said Jules, when suddenly three titans smashed into the ground in front of them. Two massive Vanguard titans, and one small Brute titan. The trio scattered as the Vanguards opened fire. The Brute was a little laggish, but opened fire as well. The three IMC pilots retreated into the building, before Jules got on his comms.

"Command, we got a trio of titans outside that would really like to see nothing more than our asses to be glassed, can we get our titans down here?" asked Jules. Immediately, command piped up.

"Your titans are ready, Captain. Brace for titanfall."

Like clockwork, three IMC titans hit the ground, surrounded by dome shields. One Legion class titan, one Tone class titan, and one Titan that didn't fit anything that the Militia had seen before.

It was giant with yellow tiger camo all over it. It had two acolyte pods, and looked strikingly like an older, Atlas model. It's optics, unlike most titans, were yellow, and had four, not three optical units. It's main weapon was an Expedition 20mm Machine gun, a weapon that was effective but costly, and was usually only used by the most elite pilots. The three IMC pilots phased into their titans, and took a battle stance.

"Alright, Jules, you are not taking the Vanguards this time. You always take the Vanguards. You get the brute," Said Walker, chuckling. The Militia pilots had already engaged, but were failing to have any effect, as they had all put their shields up, except for Jule's titan. He stuck behind Walker's particle shield.

"That's because the Aquila Class makes quick work of them," Said Tripp. "Okay, OG, lets get em!"

" _Controls transferred to pilot, not that the pilot is more effective,"_ Said OG99, Tripp's Legion titan. OG's gun spun up and opened on the farthest right titan, a Vanguard class from the marauder corp.

"Likewise LZ!" Shouted Walker, before taking off towards the other Vanguard.

" _Copy that, Walker. Let's show 'em whose boss!"_ Shouted a deep, gravely voice, belonging to Walker's titan, LZ64.

"Okay, you heard 'em DD, I guess we gotta pick on the little guy," Jules said to his own titan, DD00.

 _"I would not pick on a Brute in a dozen years, they're just too unreliable_ ," Said DD, and Jules scoffed.

"Stop being a smartass and transfer me the controls," said Jules, and DD beeped with acknowledgment.

Now that the two vanguards were separated, the brute looked at the Aquila class titan, and raised its weapon. It fired a rocket pod at DD, but Jules instantly put up its reflector shield, a formerly prototype shield that automatically directed the ordnance back at the enemy for a very short period. The rockets were repulsed back, and hit the Brute class titan, sending it backwards. It hit the ground, before Tripp called out in fear.

" _Jules! Can you kill this fucker!? He's got me pinned to the ground!"_ Shouted Tripp. Jules turned to see the Vanguard that Tripp had engaged about to slam the back of his Splitter rifle into Tripp's hatch. DD raised his Expedition machine gun, and fired.

The armor-core rounds tore through the Vanguard's chassis, tearing it apart by ripping off its acolyte pods, it arms, and even one of its optical units. But Jules could care less about the Titan. He knew that the armor piercing rounds were the most effective at killing the pilot inside his cockpit, and as long as the pilot was inside and connected, if he died, so did the Titan's OS.

Jules turned his attention back to the Brute, which had gotten to its feet. He started to VTOL hover, and Jules scoffed.

"Double-D, what's the status on the Hellfire core?" asked Jules, as he used DD's dash's to avoid incoming rocket pods.

" _Fully functional, and ready to fire, though I think by using it on a Brute class Titan would be in clear violation of budget spending for the IMC_ ," Said DD, and Jules just laughed.

"What did I say about being a smartass? As soon as he lands, fire it," said Jules. Shortly after he said that, the Brute landed, and six massive missiles flew out of the Aquila's back, where the it's other rocket pods were. They flew up into the air, and then exploded, sending out dozens of tinier, incendiary rockets on the Brute. It frantically tried to dash away, but had lost both of its legs, its acolyte pods, and ones of it's arms. The pilot made the mistake of ejecting, and hit the ground right next to where a missile impacted. He was flung away, hitting the wall on the side of the purification plant.

 _"That was a bit overkill, Jules. You could've just shot the poor bastard_ ," Said Walker, and Jules sighed.

"I used my only AP magazine on Tripp's Vanguard, because he couldn't take it on himself."

 _"I didn't know it was a goddamn Ion class!"_

"Fair point," Jules said, looking over at Walker. The Vanguard was almost completely destroyed, with its cockpit in flames. Two kills for the IMC.

DD walked over to the dying Titan, who was using it's single arm to crawl towards its downed pilot. It was trying to say something, but failed miserably, as DD stepped on its back, crushing its remnants. Jules then dismounted DD, and jumped onto the ground to inspect the pilot he had just killed.

" _He's not dead, Carper. You may have blown both of his legs off and tore apart his intestines, broke his spine and given him a concussion, an-"_

Jules put his hand in the air as if to shush DD. "I get it. He's going to die." Jules knelt next to the dying pilot, and flipped him over, to receive a shock of horror.

The pilot wasn't a day over 16 years old, maybe even fifteen. He still had acne on his face, and had peach fuzz on his lip. While pilot training had come leaps and bounds since Jules was a young man, who he himself enlisted at the age of 16 and didn't finish training until 20 years old, this was still very young.

"I...I-I don't...I don't w-w-wanna..." The young boy stammered miserably, tears in his eyes. "I...I w-wanna go...I wanna go h-home."

Jules pulled off his helmet, as the two other pilots dismounted to join Jules. Both other pilots were equally shocked. This kid hadn't even lived his life yet and here he was on a planet that really didn't matter, bleeding out.

"Get me some morphine. Least we can do is let him die painlessly."

 _"That is another breach in protocol: Use of IMC assets to-"_

"Shut the hell up, DD. Protocol can go fuck itself," said Jules. Walker handed him a stim-gun, and Jule's gingerly injected it into the boy's neck. Almost instantly, some of the pain left the boys eyes.

"M-M-Mama...I w-wanna...I w-wanna see...see my Mama," The boy said, slightly gargling on his own blood. "I...I m-m-miss her..."

Jules looked down at the boy, before he finally expired. He ran his gloved hands down his face, before sitting down. Walker had his head pointed to the ground, while Tripp simply stood there in disbelief.

"Jesus fuck, Jules... You just killed a kid..." Tripp said, and Jules quietly sighed.

"I didn't know. Had I, I wouldn't have used the Hellfire core. I would've disabled his Titan and-"

" _So he could come back to fight another day?"_ Asked DD, and Jules sighed. " _Despite being a new pilot, he could have very easily killed men on our side had he been spared."_

"Yeah, I suppose so," said Jules, before putting his helmet back on, and jumping onto DD's back. "Let's get back to the AO. I'm sure the Predators have mopped up the majority so far."


	2. Chapter 2: The Hunters

Labrador was lost to the Militia: It was a failed attack that they knew they wouldn't be able to take, but had to try anyway. Soon, the Militia would be outnumbered once again if the IMC Remnant fleet was able to link with the rest of the IMC. A bit of supplies was slowly trickling its way into the system, as new Titan types were popping up left and right. Like the one that had, along with a Legion and Tone class titan, appeared on Labrador during the attack. Laughlin' watched as three vanguards were dismantled by this titan, which was being followed by the Legion and Tone titans.

"Christ alive, what the hell is that thing?" asked Laughlin' over her intercom. Her superior, Ranger, looked over at the battle, sighing.

"I'm guessing it's an Apex Predator's custom built chassis. Ain't anything I've seen," said Ranger, his voice muffled by his helmet. "It's a killer though."

"It's not Apex," said another voice, as another pilot jumped down from above. "That's definitely IMC. I'm guessing something they pulled from the Core system."

"What makes you say that, Whip?" asked Ranger, and Whip shrugged, pulling off her helmet.

"I could see the IMC markings on the chassis, that's all," Said Whip, before looking back to the MCS Alexandria, where their own titans were being loaded. "Let's just hope they don't get here and dismantle us too."

"No one takes down the Hunters," said Ranger, looking at his Northstar class titan being lifted into the ship. "They'd fight tooth and nail. We're more in demand than the 6-4."

"With that thing? I don't think we'd stand a chance, statistically," said Whip, starting to walk onto the ship. "I suggest we get out of here before they- "

A salvo of AP- rockets hit the side of the Alexandria, fired from the unknown titan chassis. The Hunter's got onto the ship, before Laughlin' gave the tiger striped titan the middle finger, pulling off her helmet.

"Get fucked, pilot!" shouted Laughlin', before retreating inside. The Alexandria took off, flying away and jumping away quickly.

The three pilots stood next to their titans, who were offline for the time being. They had taken some damage fighting off the IMC pilots as the Militia retreated, but were far from totaled. Laughlin' looked up at he own Tone chassis titan, JKR-9975, the same titan she had been fighting with since the days when they had to steal their titans from the IMC. It was green and white, with what she assumed was a jester hat spray painted onto the front of it, as well as green eyes. It was her titan, and she loved it to bits.

"Kara! Stop staring at your titan and report to the medical bay for that bullet wound: I know the gel holds, but you still need to get that round out of your shoulder," said Ranger, pulling off his own helmet.

Ranger wasn't the best looking man in the world: If only due to the augments he had gotten over the years, he looked more like a android than an actual pilot. Lenses had replaced his eyes, and inside each lens was a metallic eyeball. His neck structure had been replaced with wires and a sleeve, as the only organic part of him was his head. He said it helped him brush off wounds. Laughlin' shuddered at the thought. She nodded at her officer, and started to walk off towards the medical bay, when Whip phase dashed in front of her.

"Whoops! Sorry about that!" said Whip, before running downwards towards her Vanguard class titan.

Whip was young for a pilot, and had been trained since the age of 12 in Japan, back on Earth. She then came to fight for the frontier, just to spite her parents. Since then, she had become a wonderful pilot, though many viewed her small, Asian frame as un-pilot like. They usually didn't have anything to say when she killed them with a single kick to the kidney.

Laughlin', on the other hand, seemed completely out of place. She was a young woman, with bright blue eyes, pale skin, and a head of sleek, black hair, tied up into a bun. A single stripe of purple ran through it, as she wanted to have some type of self improvement, as makeup was hard to get in the Militia. Regardless, she was thought to be a beauty queen by some of the grunts, and JKR, or "Joker" as Laughlin' called him, often praised her for how beautiful she was. However, she had never had any experience with dating, and was happier that way. She would always jokingly say "Sorry boys, but Joker and I are a couple." This would usually be followed by her hugging the leg of her titan.

She hurried to the medical bay, where she met with a MRVN, who quickly gave her pain meds, pulled out the bullet, and filled it up with a self healing gel, something the Militia had designed themselves. She sighed with relief, before returning to the hangar bay, where Sarah Briggs, the head of the Marauder Corp, stood with Gates, head of the 6-4, and Jack Cooper, the ace pilot of BT-7274. They were checking on all the remaining pilots who had escaped on the Alexandria. They seemed to be talking about the new titan. Laughlin' walked over, as all the other pilots had congregated around the trio.

"…It's a new prototype titan, as far as we can tell. It's piloted by an ace IMC pilot, not many of which are left in pure IMC employment." Briggs nodded towards Laughlin'. "It's hard to kill, but like all titans, not impossible. I don't know where it came from, but know that it can kill a vanguard easily, even with full shields. It's got Manticore AP rockets, which are considered ancient technology in IMC terms, but they are highly effective and expensive. If they hit you, you are best off to eject immediately. They punch through your armor, and blow you up from the inside."

Ranger raised his hand. "Are they trackers?"

"No, their tracking tech is replaced by the AP-system. They're relatively short range, but we lost ALS-8756 from over 200 meters away from that monster of a titan. Not to mention its machine gun is also armor piercing, though completely ineffective against shields, so keep that in mind. It's core ability is also powerful, using what our ships use for air support as its offensive weapon. If it fires it core, do not eject. Take the pounding, and leave the titan after it is finished, thought if you're shield is up it can take most of the damage."

"Think scorch's core ability, and Northstar's core ability on stims," said Gates, and the pilots murmured among themselves. Laughlin' raised an eyebrow.

"How did the IMC get it here?" asked Laughlin', and Sarah shrugged.

"No clue, all we know is that it is dangerous and should not be taken on in one on one fighting. However, we have one upside to it," said Sarah, smiling. "It doesn't have shields. A well placed tone or Northstar shot to the chasis could cause some major damage."

"Easier said than done," said Gates, cracking her neck. "The damn thing has a vortex shield prototype that immediately sends back our shots at us. Bear tried to engage it, and all he got was his 40mm shot back at his face."

"Luckily, we have shields," said Bear, coming out of the back.

"What're we calling that thing?" asked Cooper, leaning on a box of ammunition next to him.

"It looks like an older atlas chassis, so it's designation "Atlas". If you see it, we'll send support immediately," said Sarah, looking around. "We'll collect more data on it as soon as possible."

"Who did we lose today?" asked Whip, and Sarah sighed, looking at here data pad attached to her arm.

"17 pilots, among them were Ryan Goodrick, Alistair Lynch, and our newest recruit, Dominic Kyleson," said Sarah, before sighing. "Atlas took those three out."

Laughlin' froze. Dominic has just turned 16 the day before the attack. Him and his Brute Titan were the best of friends, and had a bond that few other pilots shared with their titan. If that "Atlas" character had taken him out, they all had a bone to pick with its pilot. Laughlin' imagined herself reaching inside the "Atlas" and pulling out its pilot, throwing him up in the air and turning him into gibs with her 40mm tracker cannon.

"Fuckin' bastard, who would kill a kid?" asked Bear, and Gates shook her head.

"There's was no way of knowing he was a kid, Bear. He was in a titan, and 'Atlas' took him down. It was his job. You would do the same," said Gates, "Doesn't excuse him from the death sentence he has brought upon himself."

"Oo-rah," said the pilots in unison. They quickly dispersed, making their way to their titans, which were already under repair. Laughlin' sighed, watching the pilots disperse together, until it was only her and Cooper left.

"Whatcha want to bet that pilot'll be an Apex by the time the next attack?" asked Cooper, and Laughlin' shook her head.

"If he's an ace and still working for the IMC, he's definitely getting paid more than any pilot working for the Apex. They're high in demand, and not many want to work for any one group permanently, as mortality rates are rather high in the IMC," Laughlin' said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "That being said, he's not long for this world. I'm sure he'll perish soon."

"Let's hope. I'd rather not take on that 'Atlas' chassis. He took down 5 vanguards, that's more than any type of pilot I've heard of," said Cooper, smiling. "I'm sure several of us can take him down, but not without casualties."

"I say nuke him from orbit," said Laughlin', laughing. "Then we'll know for sure."

"Fair statement," said Cooper, before looking out one of the windows, as they glided above Harmony. "Take it easy, Laughlin'. And let your shoulder heal this time."

Laughlin' watched as Cooper walked off, and sighed. She needed a shower, and some sleep. Soon enough they'd make another attempt on another IMC controlled planet, and she needed to be ready.


	3. Chapter 3: The Ace

"Oi, kid, the name's Kuben Blisk, I'm the commander of the Apex Predators," said Blisk, putting a hand on Jules' shoulder.

"We've met, sir," said Jules, standing up to shake his hand. "We fought together on Kumos."

"Ah, bloody hell, that was you! In that old hunk of shit Atlas, eh?" asked Blisk, smiling. "Long time since that. Bloody good long time."

"If you say so, sir," said Jules, smiling.

They were in the mess hall of the _Andromeda_ , the IMC's newly created orbital platform capable of creating and deploying over 1000 titans a minute. They had just returned from the defense of Labrador, and Jules was getting his first meal of the day. Of course, Kuben Blisk had to interrupt the only peace and quiet the ace would have of the day.

"Listen, I saw the work you were doing out there in the field with that new titan of yours," said Kuben, gesturing for Jules to sit down. "I've got an offer for you."

Jules knew this was coming, but decided to listen. He had no want to work for the Apex Predators, as his loyalties didn't lie with money, but the purpose of the IMC. The last thing he wanted to be was an expendable mercenary. He lived a lush life as an ace pilot, and even though he didn't agree with all the things he had to do, he was cocky and headstrong.

"You aren't reaching your full potential here, my friend. There's a lot of dosh involved in mercenary work, and you won't even have to leave your friends behind. Those Militia fools can't even afford the paycheck that we require here in the Predators," Blisk said, reaching into his pocket. "You're far too skilled to be a simpleton pilot for these idiots."

Blisk put a playing card with the Apex Predator logo on the table next to Jules' food. "I'm not saying you should take the job, I'm saying you should just have a run with us. See how you like working for yourself, not for the big man. We've got our own detachment missions, lots of combat, lots of fun. Think about it, my friend. Get back to me when you make your decision."

Jules looked at the playing card, and quickly tucked it into his fatigues. He liked the idea of lots of combat, lots of fun, as Blisk had put it. He still had no want of joining the Apex Predators, but a trial run with the group would be refresher. He could then fully test his new titan chassis out to its full ability. Pure titan on titan warfare was what Jules lived for, and he considered himself to be one of the best. He didn't even care if the pilot died, in fact, he'd rather them come back better and harder to fight so he could have a challenge. This of course could easily be trumped if he didn't have a state-of-the-art titan that no one knew how to fight. However, the cocksure – and talented – Julius Carper believed it to be his gift.

"Might as well give it a try," said Jules, before finishing his food. He thought of all the ways he could use his new chassis against titans that had once given the IMC such trouble that pilots were often told to double team them. Tone, The Vanguard, Legion, even Ion. He smiled at the thought of destroying a Legion with one salvo of Manticore missiles. A huge change in persona since the man who had given morphine to a dying boy. As cocksure as he was, he didn't like the idea of innocents or children being killed. The pilot he had killed fell into the latter category. DD00 however, did not share Jules' sentiment.

Double D and Jules had been together since the start of the war between the Militia and the IMC started. While DD had originally only been a simple Atlas OS system, he eventually became a snarky, sarcastic, and generally mean AI for the Ion Chassis. Only three months ago, after the fall of Typhon, had DD-182 been transferred to the Aquila Class Titan chassis, and been renamed DD00, as a prototype weapon. He had engaged a few outlying Titans here and there, but hadn't truly seen how effective the Aquila could be until today, on Labrador. He was sure that the Militia had taken note, and were probably shitting their pants trying to figure out how to take down the titan. He smiled to himself, thinking about all the poor pilots about to fall to his hands. Hopefully not any children this time.

He quickly finished his food, and took it over to a bin, where he dumped the plate. He then quickly walked over to the elevator, and took it down to the first level, the Pilots residential quarters. It was on the same level as the Titan dropping station, and the Pilots could easily reach it in under 2 minutes if they wanted to, in case of quick deployment situations. The elevator quickly reached the first level, and Jules walked out, and to his room.

As he entered inwards, he hit the lights, and looked in the mirror. He stared at his reflection, a ridged, lean man. His hair was in every direction except the right one, thanks to his helmet, and his green eyes were bloodshot from staring at the titan screen for so long. His stubble (He liked to call it that: In reality it was a bunch of patchy peach fuzz) was finally long enough to be able to be noticed. He made a note to shave it after his shower.

He sighed, stripped down, and took a step onto his automated scale. He had gain a few pounds, putting him at a solid 185, which for a guy who was six foot, really wasn't all that bad. He studied the scars on his chest – almost all penetration wounds from an awry piece of shrapnel or small arms fire when he had to leave his titan- before turning on the shower, and stepping into the piping hot water. He let it soak into his skin, wiping him clean of the grime that had covered him earlier, and quickly washed his hair. He stepped out, quickly shaved and brushed his teeth, before suiting up into a new set of fatigues, and leaving his room.

The IMC's _Andromeda_ was a pure work of art. It was self sustaining, used little to no fuel except for the shelter based needs, and could reach whatever planet they needed. It had enough defenses to take on the entire Militia fleet, or at least, that's what General Marder said. Jules kind of figured it was Marder's creation, being the chief of technology and everything. Plus it had Kuben Blisk aboard, along with the rest of his mercenaries. Even though Marder had had a bit of a falling out with Blisk, he still used the Apex Predators to minimize IMC losses. Smart move, as well, considering that the IMC was slightly stranded after the Battle of Demeter made it nigh impossible to get back to the core systems with the size of the fleet.

Jules continued his way towards the officer's club, where he was sure Blisk was playing cards and smoking cigars. He may have been a rather brusque man, but Blisk still enjoyed some of the finer things in life.

Jules turned the corner, and saw the entrance to the officer's club. He strode towards it, opened it up, and saw Blisk standing with all his men, smiling, as if he was posing for a shot. Jules waited by the door, after the photo was finished, and lit up a cigarette. He then walked over to Blisk, and handed him the card. "I'll do it."

Blisk looked surprised. "You will? I didn't expect that, I must say."

Jules took a drag off his cigarette, before looking around. "Not completely sold on the idea for working for myself, but if I get to blow up more titans, that's fine by me."

"Ah, that's the spirit my friend. I'm sure you'll have a grand time, and if you come back in one piece, then there's a bit of money in it for you," Blisk said, smiling. He lit his own cigarette, and put his arm around Jules, walking with him. "If you stick around long enough, there's a lot of it waiting for you, in fact, lodesamone."

Jules paused. "What?"

"Lodesamone."

"Yes, yes, I heard what you said, but I don't understand. Is that Afrikaans or something?"

"No, its plain and simple English," Blisk smiled, pulling out a credit chip from his back pockets. "See this little thing? It's filled with lodesamone."

"Honestly, I have no fucking clue what you're saying, Blisk," Said Jules. Blisk sighed, and looked at his men.

"Is it my accent? I think its my accent, eh?" The men laughed, and Blisk turned back to Jules. "Loads-a-money."

"Oh, okay, that makes sense now," Said Jules, taking a drag off of his cigarette. "Do you know what our next mission is?"

"In fact, I do. Tomorrow, as you know, we're attacking the planet of Galantis. We are going to be on crowd control; You know, clear out the forces already there, make sure no one messes with the LZ, eh?"

"You think there'll be titans there, already?" asked Jules, raising an eyebrow. Blisk nodded, smiling.

"Oh my friend, I'm absolutely sure of it. They know our every move, so we just need to break them with overwhelming force, eh?" Blisk asked rhetorically. "We'll get down there, and your titan will be able to rip them to shreds.

Jules liked the sound of that. Another chance to destroy militia titans? He'd never pass up the chance to get into some combat. He nodded, and shook Blisk's hand. "What time?"

"0800. Don't forget your titan, eh?" Said Blisk, and Jules nodded, smiling.

"I'll be there."

* * *

 _"_ I've rarely seen a pilot with such good uplinks. I should know, I trained him," said an old woman, looking across the table. "Any titan he jumped into, he could connect with, almost perfectly. Only problem is that he loved killing them."

"Do you think that's changed, Mrs. Brooch?" asked Briggs. They were in a briefing room on the _Alexandria_ , with their own ace pilots: The 6-4, Cooper, The Hunters, the Aces, and a few key members of the Marauder Corp. They had received good intel that the IMC was going to attack Galantis the following day, and that their new Most Wanted would be on sight. They had to be prepared. "Considering how effective he was?"

"All their pilots go through psychological numbing so that they don't feel bad about destroying the enemy forces, so maybe, though depending on several things, he may have gotten it lightly or otherwise," Said Brooch, sipping her coffee. "Not to mention he's an ace. You don't become an ace by feeling bad for the enemy."

"Does he have any weaknesses?" asked Briggs. "Anything that makes him more susceptible to losing?"

"He's cocky. Very cocky. Again, he's an ace, so he won't be able to help himself but to play with his prey, usually auto titans, unless it is a big problem."

"Didn't play with Dominic," said Bear, before sighing.

"Probably because there was still a pilot in it," said Brooch, before looking through a file.

Brooch was the former pilot master of the IMC, before defecting to the Militia earlier last year. Since she had been the pilot master for over 40 years, most of the pilots in the IMC hands had been hand picked by her, and every time Briggs needed an update on tech or methods, she went to Brooch. This was the first time they were asking about an Ace.

"I'd say your best chance is overwhelming force. He's not a coward, so there's no way to capture him. I've seen him go up against three ogres back in the day when we only had three different chassis, and come out on top. If you can, hit him with an orbital round, or use several legions. No way of knowing how much damage that shield reflects, but nothing can withstand several miniguns," said Brooch. "He's also never going to defect, as far as I know. He basically lives, breathes, eats IMC. Rarely have I seen him question his orders, though it usually involves the murder of civilians."

"So he's got morals? I thought you said he had been brainwashed," Laughlin' asked, and Brooch nodded.

"Occasionally, if a pilot is dedicated enough, they skip it because they know the pilot will be rational about his or her actions. I'm sure, due to the dedication he has, he probably got a very minor whiff of the brain washing," Said Brooch. "He's an odd duck when it comes to morals, I suppose: He has no problem killing titans, spectres, reapers, stalkers, but when it comes to the human element, he apparently often skipped past grunts, even pilots whose titan had been destroyed. He'd often just brush off pilots who rodeoed him, and sometimes would even hop out to help them."

"What?" asked Barker, leaning into the table. "You're saying he doesn't like killing pilots?"

"It's often unavoidable, especially now with the fight to the death with your titan mentality, but if he needs to, he'll lay waste to grunts and pilots alike if he has to, to achieve the mission goal. When he's on foot, he's often known to beat your foot soldiers into inches of their life, and leave them if possible."

"Yeah, can we stop calling them grunts?" asked Cooper, and they all turned. "They're called infantry, and we kinda hate being called that."

"Fair enough, anyway, he doesn't like killing _infantry_ ," said Brooch, before taking another sip of her coffee, and lighting a cigarette. "And he especially hates killing children."

"He killed a child just today," said Bear, and Brooch looked up.

"Then I'm sure he's not feeling great about it. Was he a pilot?" asked Brooch, and Bear nodded. "He's not going to shoot himself over it, but he'll be concerned with it."

"Fair enough," Barker said, before taking a swig of moonshine. "What did you say his name was?"

"Julius Carper, also known as 'Jules', 'Atlas', or 'Junior'," said Brooch, and Barker about spit out his moonshine.

"Wait, _Carper_? As in _Dean Michael Carper_? As in former IMC Captain _Carper?_ " Asked Barker, and Brooch nodded, tilting her head quizzically.

"Do you know him?" asked Brooch, and Barker nodded.

"Best damn Captain I knew. Shame he died in the Titan Wars. Anyway, so what would you say we do?" asked Barker, and Brooch sighed, before taking a drag off of her cigarette.

"Make it your priority to kill him. Don't just destroy his titan, don't just maim him, or just capture him: Kill him."


	4. Chapter 4: Hellfire and Brimstone

_"_ _Right, Jules, you know the plan: We get in there, we clear the settlement, then the Andromeda will send down her mobile base, got it?"_ Asked Blisk, already sitting in his titan. Jules gave the thumbs up from outside his titan, put on his helmet, and crawled inside Double-D.

"No civies, right? Just titans?" asked Julius, and Blisk's titan gave the thumbs up. "Good."

" _Alright pilots, stand by for titan fall,_ " said Eye-glass over the hangar P.A. Jules strapped himself in, and activated the titan fall safeties, before the countdown timer started. Jules hated this part: He always felt like his stomach was going into his mouth when he was in a titan during titanfall. It was a common feeling: No amount of training could stop the feeling of nausea when dropping from orbit in a giant metal cage.

" _Pilot, your heart rate has accelerated: Are you nervous?_ " Asked Double-D. Jules groaned.

"Of course I am Double-D. The safety systems are the only thing stopping us from smashing into the ground and crumbling like a fucking tin can."

" _There is only a .00000003 percent chance the safeties will fail. We will be safe,"_ Said DD, before putting on a soft light inside the cockpit. " _The change in light will possibly lower your anxiety."_

"You do this every time, DD. It doesn't help."

Suddenly, the floor disappeared out from under the titan, and they dropped into open orbit. Jules gritted his teeth, as the titan fell through the atmosphere, being engulfed in flames. He looked at the altimeter: They were closing in on the ground fast, falling at speeds that would burn a regular drop pod to a crisp. The safeties ignited, lowering the speed to a measly 60 km/ph, before hitting the ground. Double-D immediately pulled out his Expedition chain gun, and looked around. The other titans were hitting the ground around him, all adorned with Apex Predator Logos.

"Blisk, I don't have any titan signatures," said Jules, and Blisk just cackled.

" _You think they got scared and ran? Of course not, that's because they're hiding in the settlement,_ " Said Blisk, before spinning up his mini gun. " _Move towards it, let's take these bastards down!"_

Jules nodded, and moved slowly towards a hill. Galantis was green and lush, made of mostly giant mountains and grass fields. There were a few hills here and there, but what wasn't flat lands, was usually mountain ranges, topped with snow. It reminded Jules of what Europe looked like in the pictures his mother had sent him since her retirement. Jules crested the hill and saw a small, town looking settlement surrounded by a wall. Just outside of it looked like orchards, and Jules sighed. If he wasn't about to go and destroy bi-pedal robots, he would have gotten out of Double-D and had a picnic.

" _Oi! What do you see?_ " asked Blisk, and Jules turned around.

"A town, an orchard, a little river – but no titans," Jules said. Suddenly, several titans dropped around in the surrounding orchard, and starting firing at Jules. He backed up, careful not to be hit by a 40mm round, or an Ion laser. "Nevermind, they're here."

" _Good, wait for them to come up here, we have the advantage with the high ground,_ " Said another Predator. The convoy of titans crested the hill, and started firing.

Jules could see his tracers hitting the titans below, cracking their shields, or sometimes penetrating them outright. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and they knew it. It wasn't long before they started to retreat, after one or two of their titans were destroyed. The town gates opened, and they lumbered inside.

"Hey, how did they get in if they didn't have civies?" asked Jules, and Blisk scoffed.

" _Probably grunts. I told you, they knew we were coming. That thing is like a fortress. We'll go clear them out,"_ Said Blisk, before more titans dropped behind them. " _Scepter, Rig, Jules, engage these titans, and afterwards provide cover fire."_

" _Hard copy, Blisk_ ," Said Scepter over the radio. Jules turned to see two Ions, as well as a Tone. Tone launched a round towards Double-D, who quickly activated his reflection shield. It bounced off, and hit an Ion, before disintegrating against it's shield. One of the Ions launched a shoulder laser blast, hitting Rig, who was piloting a Scorch, detonating his thermite canister. Rig's screams filled the com channel, and Scepter, who was piloting a Brute, quickly turned and launched a salvo. Ion caught the rockets with its vortex shield, and launched them back at Scepter, who promptly dodged them.

Double-D raised his chaingun, and opened fire on one of the Ions. It was a mere matter of seconds before its shield was destroyed, peppering the chassis of the Ion with AP 20mm rounds, tearing its innards apart. It's arm promptly fell off, and the pilot ejected.

" _Well? Finish the job!_ " shouted Scepter, and Jules scoffed.

"As if, lets deal with these two first," said Jules, firing manticore rockets at the Tone. The Tone put down a particle wall, and fired a shot at Jules, whose shield had recently gone down. The round hit at an angle where it ricocheted off, and Double-D starting suppressing the Tone pilot. The other Ion fired a shoulder laser at Double-D, who then fired Manticore rockets at the Ion. They destroyed the shield of the Ion, and a single rocket penetrated the chassis. The pilot ejected immediately, as his titan's leg were blown off, leaving only the top part. The Tone decided to use the chance, and dashed towards Double-D, only to be hit by a salvo of rockets from Scepter's Brute chassis. The Tone swung back around, only to take a blast of rockets from the quad launcher, blowing off the hatch of the titan. The pilot slumped in the cockpit, and the titan dropped to its knees, trying to put the pilot back inside, its single optical unit on its head trying to focus on the pilot.

" _Pilot, it isn't safe outside, please return inside the cockpit_ ," it said, obviously unaware that its pilot was dead. Scepter fired another salvo at the Tone, destroying it completely. The three chassis sat, burning, as two pilots dashed off into the distance.

" _You let them get away! They're gonna come back with new titans!"_ shouted Scepter, walking up to Jules' titan.

"Let them, we can take them a second time," Said Jules, before Blisk came on over the radio.

" _Oi! We need support! Quick! They've got several titans inside, and we're outnumbered! We already lost Gamble and Bambino!"_ Said Blisk. _"Jules, is your core charged?!"_

"Yeah, but did you see any civies?" asked Jules, and Blisk groaned.

 _"_ _No, there are no fuckin' civies you daft fucking idiot! Send your goddamn salvo or I will come up there and tear you out of your titan and smash your empty head against the ground!"_

" _Hellfire Core ready to launch. Mark the position, Julius_ ," Said Double-D, and Jules turned towards the town, using a readymade targeting reticule. He placed it over the town, and released the salvo. The remaining Apex Predators were leaving the town, sprinting towards the hill, as fire rained down from above, burning everything below, including any titans or Militia infantry.

" _Good job. Sorry about the threat, I was under a lot of stress_ ," said Blisk, and Jules nodded.

"After the fire dies down, I'm gonna go down and see the damage it did: IMC still wants field updates on its prototype," Said Jules, looking down upon the flames. By now the smoke was so thick, that it blotted out the sun, the embers the only thing lighting up the area around it.

" _Bloody hell, I want whatever he's piloting_ ," said Scepter. " _Took dow two Ions no problem, then literally levels a fucking town."_

 _"_ _Yeah, it's a goddamn WMD on legs_ ," said another pilot named Blaster.

They sat on top of the hill, as there weren't any new objectives they needed to fulfill. They had a dropship on standby to tow the remaining 5 titans back to the _Andromeda_ , which was three less than they had dropped with. Bambino, Gamble, and Rig had perished, while Blaster, Blisk, Jules, Scepter, and a Northstar pilot named Railway had survived. Finally, after the fire died down, they embarked downwards.

"How many titans do you think were down there?" asked Jules.

" _At least 10. That was a hell of a core if you can destroy ten titans with it in one go."_ Blisk replied, sighing. " _Whats the downside of that chassis, eh? It's got a good gun, good rockets, and a good core ability."_

"No shields. I gotta be careful around heavy hitters like Tone and Northstar. Everyone else's shots can be negated by the armor pretty easily, but a charged plasma round will tear my chassis a new asshole, and a 40mm would fracture and send shrapnel inside the chassis, and I will be very dead," Jules explained. He could feel Double-D shudder at the idea. "Sorry big guy, didn't mean to upset you."

" _Did you just call your titan 'Big Guy'?_ " Asked Scepter, before laughing. " _You actually talk to your titan?"_

"I've been lucky, never have had him completely totaled. He's stuck around since the days of the Atlas and the Ogre," said Jules, as they reached the orchard. The trees were burnt to a crisp, flames still licking the ground around them. The wall had almost been completely destroyed, and the temperatures outside still exceeded 50 Celsius. Jules entered the compound, and looked around, before he opened the hatch.

" _Pilot, be careful, the flames are still lit, and could harm you,_ " said Double-D, but Jules wasn't listening.

"What the fuck…" said Jules, looking around. His salvo had done more than enough damage: Only skeletons remained of the titans. But he didn't care about that.

He cared about the hundreds of unarmed, scorched bodies that he had left in his wake. They didn't look human anymore, just coal. Blood bubbled around those who had been hit by shrapnel, but for the most part they were burnt to a crisp. There were no infantry, no spectres, nothing of the sort.

Just civilians.

Jules felt his stomach rise into his throat, and his pulled off his helmet, puking onto the ground, retching out his breakfast of oatmeal. He looked up, staring right at a charcoal statue of a woman covering her child from flames, stuck in place. He stood up, taking in a 360 of the area, before falling over and puking again, sobbing in between retches.

" _What's up with him?"_ Asked Scepter, and Blisk just laughed.

" _I guess the ace doesn't have much of a stomach for civilian casualties,"_ Blisk said, before chuckling, and opening his hatch. "Oi! Jules! Sorry for the false info, eh? My hide is more important than theirs!"

Jules got to his feet, and looked at Blisk with red eyes, filled with anger. "You made me kill hundreds of civilians."

"Eh, you get used to it mate!" shouted Blisk, smiling. "I sold you a line of bullshit, my friend. We rarely deal with titan on titan combat: We clear zones, kill VIPs, get rid of unwanted civilian resistance, because that's what we're good at."

"You weren't like this on Kumos!" shouted Jules, shaking angrily.

"Nah, I was, there just wasn't any civilians to kill!" shouted Blisk back, before laughing. "I get paid a lot more than you for killing civilians. It's like getting rid of the source of the Militia before they join up!"

Jules looked up at Blisk, his eyes filled with hatred, before he put back on his helmet. He silently reached for Double-D, who lifted him up on the palm of his hand.

"Look my friend, it wasn't anything personal, I just needed to see how effective your chassis was. You don't have the guts to fight for us. You need to be willing to kill those who don't deserve to die if you want to be a predator. We live for the kill, the fight, even if they can't fight back, we still kill them," Said Blisk, smiling.

Double-D stopped lifting Jules, before looking over at Blisk. " _My pilot is already irritated. To avoid friendly conflict, I advise an immediate cease of all communication."_

"Shut your metal mouth, _robot_ ," Said Blisk, before laughing. "It's a wonder how you do this job at all! The IMC regularly wipes out civilian settlements, whether it be for land, for opposition, or plainly because the IMC just doesn't like them there."

Jules turned around, looking at Blisk through his visor, and sighed. "Well, I know one thing is for sure."

"And what's that?" asked Blisk tauntingly. "You're gonna report me to the IMC?"

"No. I'm going to kill you."

Jules drew his handgun, and fired three shots, two of which landed in Blisk's chest. Blisk fell back into his chassis, yelling, before it closed, and started to move into a combat stance. Double-D lifted Julius into the chassis, immediately activated the reflector shield, and raised the chain gun.

Scepter was the first to go, his chassis unable to handle the sheer number of bullets that Double-D was sending at him. He was torn apart inside the Brute chassis, destroying the core of it in the process. Julius, now in control, turned towards Blaster, an Ion pilot, and released a salvo of manticore rockets at it. The pilot didn't have time to react. He was blown apart in seconds, dying with his titan. By now, Blisk had called down a transport, and loaded in his titan, flying away without Railway. Railway charged up a shot, and fired it at Double-D, but the reflector shield was still activated. The round ricocheted back at Railway, severing the bottom half of the titan. Double-D closed the gap quickly, and used his foot to jam the ejection hatch.

" _Wait! Please for the love of god wait!"_ Screamed Railway, his voice filled with fear. " _I thought you didn't like killing pilots! It was in your report!"_

"Yeah, well, I'm sure the report also said something about me being adverse to killing civilians," said Jules, placing the chain gun on the optical unit of the titan. "However, I just killed hundreds of civilians, so I think that while I'm on a role, I'll do one more thing I don't usually do. I think I'll start killing pilots now."

And with that, Double-D fired the rest of his chaingun magazine into the Northstar chassis, tearing apart Railway's body.

" _Sir, what do we do now?_ " asked Double-D, lifting the gun. Jules breathed deeply, before looking around.

"I think," Started Jules. "That it might be high time to switch sides."

" _That is not an optimal idea, Pilot. The Militia has a 20,000 credit bounty on your head due to your ace status. More than likely they will execute you on site."_

"I sort of deserve it, Double-D. But we'll just have to wait and see. Let's go back up to that Ion Chassis. I'm sure it has a distress signal on it."

" _As you wish pilot. Though I'm sure if this goes wrong, I'm not going to be able to say 'I told you so' because I will have been captured for my technology, and you will be dead,"_ Double-D quipped, shuddering.

"Yeah, yeah, hopefully not."

* * *

"Ma'am, we just got a distress signal from Aleksandr's titan," Said Whip, looking at the screen on her titan. "Even though he got back."

"Might be a civilian," said Briggs, looking over her shoulder. "Though, if there are any survivors in that town, it'll be a miracle. Looks like Brooch was wrong about our new friend: He took out a town of 341 people in the blink of an eye."

"I'll go, ma'am," said Laughlin', and Briggs shook her head.

"We're all going down, just in case it's Jules trying to bait us," said Briggs, and Laughlin' cocked her head.

"Huh, never thought of that."

"Uh, ma'am, another thing you might want to look at," Whip said, pointing at the feed. "This was taken about six minutes ago."

Briggs squinted her eyes, and realized it was the feed from one of the optical units on the Ion whose arm had been destroyed. It was positioned at the right angle that she could see the Apex Predators, and Julius, who was on the ground, head buried in the dirt without a helmet on. She zoomed in, and squinted more. "Is he… Is he crying?"

"Looks that way. But that isn't the interesting part. Watch."

The feed went on for about another two minutes, before Julius opened fire on Blisk, knocking him back into his titan. The 'Atlas' opened fire on a Brute, destroying it, then an Ion. By now most of the pilots had gathered around the feed, watching as 'Atlas' fired into a Northstar chassis, while Blisk flew away, probably back to the _Andromeda_ , which was hovering over Galantis.

Julius and his titan then lumbered over to the Ion chassis, dug around in it for a moment, and then got out, before Julius sat down, unarmed, in the grass.

"Prepare for titan fall now! Now is our chance!" shouted Bear, running to his titan, a Legion.

"Alright, but don't engage outright! It looks like he doesn't want to fight us!" shouted Cooper, before jumping into BT.

Within thirty seconds, all the pilots were in their Titans, and in the air. They had stealth launched them, now that the _Andromeda_ had moved around to the far side of the planet. They landed, and immediately went upright, looking around for more hostiles. Only Jules, and his titan, remained in the field. The titans converged on them, before all aiming their weapons at Julius and his titan.

"6-4! Cover the perimeter! Hunters, give them support! BT, keep an eye on his titan," Briggs said, and the titans dispersed. Julius sighed, and looked up.

"Really no reason to do that: They can't drop titans for the same reason you could only send a handful half an hour ago. They're out of range," Julius said. His eyes were red, and tear streaks cut through the dirt on his face like rivers. He stood up, and Briggs realized that he was completely unarmed. She looked around for his weapons, but to no avail. He must have left them back at the town.

"Thanks for the reassurance, but we try not to take any chances."

"My name is Julius Carper, I'm formerly a Lieutenant of the IMC, as well as an Ace pilot part of the Aquila titan program." Julius introduced himself, before offering both of his hands, wrists touching. "And I am hereby turning myself, and my titan, DD00, into Militia forces."

"And how do I know this isn't a trap? That you're not just a spy?" asked Briggs, before she looked at his neck. There was blood running down it, a knife wound about an inch deep. Barker had the same scar upon his neck, as well as many other IMC defectors. He had removed his pilot chip. He was no longer linked, physically to the IMC.

"I have removed my pilot chip, as well as removed all IMC designation tags from DD00. He is now a neutral force, and is available to be apart of the Militia titan fleet. At least there he won't be used to kill civilians," Julius said, and then gestured towards the destroyed Apex Predator chassis, where Laughlin', Whip, and what looked like Davis' titans were kicking the bodies. "Plus I kind of just destroyed a large part of the Apex Predators, so, even if were to go back to the IMC if I was a spy, I'd be dead by morning."

"Mhm," said Briggs, before opening her titan. BT kept his weapon trained on DD00, who looked at BT quizzically. Briggs walked over to the pilot, who kept his hands out, and cuffed him. " _Alexandria,_ this is Briggs, over?"

 _"_ _Copy that Briggs, everything okay down there, over?"_ asked Barker.

"Everything is great. We have captured the Ace Pilot Julius Carper, and are prepping for evac. We got him, over."

" _Copy that, sending a dropship now, ETA two minutes, over."_

Briggs looked at Julius, who didn't look smug. She expected him to be prickly, and cocky, but instead all she saw was a defeated man. Someone who had just betrayed every moral he had ever had. It wasn't a look one could fake easily. Maybe Brooch was right? He had been quietly pushed through training without the brainwashing, and then kept from seeing the dirty part of the war, like a child not being able to watch certain TV shows. She couldn't make the call yet, though. To Briggs, Julius was still the enemy.

A dropship swooped down, picking up the entourage of pilots and their titans, flying up into space once more. Briggs looked back at Julius, who was sitting in the cabin next to his titan, still cuffed, and couldn't help but shake the feeling of winning a major battle today. They had gotten rid of an ace pilot before he caused too much damage with a prototype titan. It was a win for all pilots in the militia. But perhaps a smaller battle had been won as well, she thought.

Maybe, just maybe, they had gained a new pilot.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

Hey everybody! Thank you for all the support on this story, I'm really enjoying writing it and I'm glad you enjoy reading it! I'll try and post new updates every other day, but please don't be upset if I don't hit the deadline on the head! Thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter 5: Repent

Jules sat alone in a room, with only a cup of coffee on the table in front of him. He had been stripped of his IMC pilot suit, and had been given a pair of Militia fatigues. Surprisingly, they decided to wash and repair what little damage Double-D had taken, but that's probably because they were planning on using him. There was a two-way mirror on the other side of the grey room, and he could vaguely see a pilot's helmet lights on the other side.

Cooper stood on the other side of the two-way mirror, staring at the IMC pilot blankly. "He seems so calm."

"He might be in shock. His record from his chip says that he has never gone out on extermination missions," Said Briggs, looking at a data file on her tablet. "Looks like Brooch underestimated him: He's never killed a single civilian before this. They must've kept him in like a bubble or something."

"Seriously? Why'd they do that?" asked Cooper, and Briggs shook her head.

"He's got something of a super natural ability to link with titans. Little to no delay, and his near perfect reflexes allow him to fight as if he was a human inside his titan. That's something we've seen in a few pilots, so he's not unique. You yourself are one of those," Said Briggs, smiling. "There's a reason why you were able to slay an army of titans and mercs on Typhon."

"Thank you, commander," Said Cooper, looking back at Jules. "Well, duty calls. I'll see you when we get back from repulsing this invasion."

Cooper saluted, and ran off to the hangar bay. The 9th Militia fleet was in charge of repulsing the invasion of Galantis, which was a ballsy move on the IMC's behalf. It would be a hard fight, but so long as the first of the Marauder corp. could clear the DZ, they'd have enough titans on the ground to keep the _Andromeda_ from launching its mobile base.

Briggs put down her data tablet, and walked into the room, sitting across from the newly-defected pilot.

"Thanks for the coffee. I needed it," Said Jules, his eyes cast and the table.

"Thought you might," Said Briggs. "I'm Sarah Briggs, Commander in the Militia 9th Fleet." She reached out her hand for a handshake. Jules reciprocated.

"So, you want to defect?"

"Yeah, that's about the gist of it," Said Jules, giving a half smile. "I understand what I did would usually put me on the firing line, but so long as you get that ti-"

"There will be no firing line. But you will be imprisoned for a very long time," Said Briggs, before pushing forward a pack of cigarettes.

Jules quickly grabbed one, and lit it with the lighter inside. He shakily put the pack down, and sighed. "I guess it should be expected."

"You have done some good today, however much evil you have committed in the past. You eliminated several war criminals wanted by the Militia, as well as given us a prototype of a very important titan." Briggs lit her own cigarette, before leaning back in the chair. "Bounty on those bastards was well over 100,000 credits."

"Can't use them in prison," said Jules, smirking. "Maybe I can keep myself supplied with cigarettes."

Briggs smiled half heartedly. "You aren't getting the bounty. We are."

"Ah, shoulda assumed that. I take it your leader of the Marauder Corp?" asked Jules, motioning towards her patch. "Severely underfunded, I hear."

"Severely is a good way of describing it." Briggs looked at her patch. "Even with having a dozen aces at my disposal, other groups in the Militia still get more funding."

"Sounds like you could use some extra cash," Said Jules, before looking up at the light.

"Not that you can help. We already collected the bounties on them," Said Briggs, but Jules just scoffed.

"I could, actually. But I need something in return," Said Jules, and Briggs looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"And how would you help me?" asked Briggs, and Jules pointed at his neck.

"As of right now, I am KIA to the IMC. The chip that I pulled out is what they use to monitor my vitals, and I know for a fact that they're not going to assume I defected. They should have deposited about 500,000 credits into my account for a payment to whatever family I have. However, both of my parents are dead, no next of kin, no girlfriend, nothing of the sort. So right now, I've got payment from both my parents life insurance, my pay from the IMC, and my own life insurance sitting in my credit account. Soon they'll realize I've defected, and completely wipe it, but as of right now I can withdraw all of it," Said Jules. "If you promise me a chance, just a chance, to prove myself to you, I will give you everything inside that account."

Briggs sat back, eyes wide. She knew that ace pilots made a huge amount of credits in the IMC, but she didn't know how much, but 500,000 credits were enough to buy an island in the Frontier. They could use that money in all sorts of ways. She twiddled her thumbs, before taking another drag off her cigarette.

"How much money do you think is in there?" asked Briggs, and Jules shrugged.

"A small fortune. Well over 750,000," Said Jules, before taking a drag off his own cigarette. "All I ask is a chance."

Briggs pondered for a minute, before a voice came over the intercom. "Jesus Briggs, that's like the opposite of a mercenary: He's paying us to fight for us."

"Shut the hell up Barker!" yelled Briggs, before Gates tuned in.

"He's a decent pilot, if he runs away, he runs without a faction, as the IMC'll execute him on sight, and we'll do the same," Said Gates, and Briggs pursed her lips.

"Fine. How do you withdraw the money to another account?" asked Briggs, and Jules motioned towards his neck again.

"Get me my chip, and my pilots PDA. I'll do it as fast as I can," Said Jules, and Briggs nodded at the two way mirror. They sat for a bit in the silence, before Briggs spoke up again.

"What type of rig do you use?" asked Briggs, and Jules laughed.

"Suplex 22, Lots of speed, low safety, but I can handle it," Said Jules, before raising his palms, showing off lots of calluses. "I use my hands to break sometimes, burns right through the gloves. Not to mention it's great for phase shifting, can change positions very well."

"Don't let the General hear this, but I'm partial to the Hammond 59-Supra. Lots of control, decent speed," Said Briggs, smiling.

"You and the rest of the IMC," Said Jules, and Briggs scoffed, when Bear came in, holding the chip in one hand and the PDA in the other.

"I cannot believe we're giving this bastard a chance to redeem himself. He fucking killed Dominic!" shouted Bear, putting the gear on the table. "He's a fucking mass murderer and I should've killed him while he was sitting down in the grass."

"Bear, please. If his loyalties truly lie in the Militia, he'll make a great addition to the Marauder Corp." Briggs pushed the chip towards Jules, and he immediately stuck it into the PDA.

"I need an account and a bank," Said Jules, and Briggs sighed.

"Won't they restrict it?" asked Briggs, and Jules shook his head.

"I already passed it into a personal Frontier bank. They'll try to recover it, but once the money is moved, its moved."

Briggs quickly gave him the bank and account number, and brought it up on her PDA. Suddenly, 1,250,000 Credits had been transferred to the account. She nearly fainted.

"Okay… 1,250,000 credits… what were you planning on doing with it after the war?"

"Going back to earth, opening a restaurant or something," Said Jules, before smiling. "That's down the drain."

"You need 1,250,000 credits to start a restaurant?" asked Briggs, and Jules laughed.

"In the core systems, that's about 1/10 of what it's worth here," Said Jules, before crushing the chip in his hands. "There's a reason the IMC is quickly going bankrupt, yet you're able to supply yourselves easily."

"Point taken," Said Briggs, before sighing. "Bear, bring him the rest of his suit. Barker, get his titan prepped."

"Is DD restocked?" asked Jules, and Briggs shook her head.

"We don't have enough money for its armaments. At least, we didn't. We couldn't fill up his rocket pods with Manticore rockets, so we just put in tone missiles. No tracking devices but I'm sure you can handle that," Briggs said, before standing up. "Also, what's with the lack of the shield?"

"Too much weaponry and ammo, not enough room for a shield. Again, it's a prototype. Even in the real world, I guess there does need some balancing," Jules said, standing up as well.

"Are you gonna be okay against guys who know your weakness?" asked Briggs, and Jules shrugged.

"I've still got the reflector shield, keeps me safe until they've killed themselves. Takes about 20 seconds or so to recharge a 10 second shield, so I think I'll be fine," Said Jules, as they walked out the door. Bear stood there, begrudgingly, holding out a key.

"Locker 27. You don't get to touch the guns though," said Bear, and Jules shrugged.

"Not that great of a pilot outside of the titan anyway," Said Jules, before turning towards the locker room.

"Meet me on the bridge after you get suited up," Said Briggs, and Jules nodded.

* * *

" _We're being fuckin' torn apart down here!"_ Shouted Cooper over the radio. " _We've got 7 plus titans engaging us! Brooke and Zilola have already been destroyed! We need support, I repeat, we need support!"_

The Hunters, The 6-4, Aces, Briggs, and Jules stood at the bridge, watching a birds eye view of the battle below. BT was barely holding on, being attacked by several heavier titan chassis, as well as fending off a single ronin who kept on hitting him.

"That's a negative cooper, the DZ is too hot, we'd lose anyone who went down there," said Briggs, before running her hands down her eyes. Jules looked at the feed, and it was a cluster fuck. The Andromeda had already lowered her readymade base and was prepping for a final landing. Galantis was almost lost in a matter of hours.

"Once that thing touches down, we're fucked," Said Ranger, before looking at Jules. "Who let Hitler out of his box?"

"Be nice, Ranger," Said Laughlin', before turning towards Jules. "He doesn't like defectors, he can barely stand Barker here."

"That's because if their loyalties changed once, they can change again," Said Ranger, before turning back to the feed.

Jules nodded, before looking back at the feed. "Have you swapped out the paint on Double-D yet?"

"No, why?" asked Barker, and Jules rubbed his chin with a gloved hand.

"I might be able to get the drop on them. Give us an edge," said Jules, and Briggs shook her head.

"Too dangerous. Your chance to prove yourself will only end with you getting yourself killed in the line of battle," Said Briggs. "Not that I care much about you, but your titan will go with you."

"I can handle myself. I could take on seven titans back when I was in an Ion, I can take them on in the Aquila class titan."

"You mean an Atlas."

"Yes, an Atlas, whatever. I can take them, especially if I have the drop on them," Said Jules, before looking at the feed.

"You could take 7 of them if you had shields, maybe."

Julius groaned. "You took out Double-D's blueprints as well, you have everything you need to make this Titan again. Do you want your pilot to die or not?"

Barker nodded. "He's got a point, Briggs. If we don't send him down, Cooper dies. If we do send him down and Julius dies, Cooper dies. If we send him down and by some stroke of luck he actually takes down those seven titans, Cooper lives, we get a live demonstration of how dangerous the prototype can be, and we secure the DZ."

"No point in securing the DZ, the ground to air defenses were taken out a while ago," Said Briggs, but rubbed her temples. "Okay, Julius. Have your suicide mission."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"I'm not your commanding officer, not yet at least. Now get down there!" She shouted, and Julius took off down the hallway, before turning back around. "The hangar is to the left!"

She turned back to the screen, and touched her earpiece. "Cooper, you're not gonna like this, but our newly defected pilot has opted to come down and help you out."

" _As long as he isn't down here to tear me in half, I'll take any help I can get!"_

* * *

Julius had done his second titanfall of the day. First one was for the IMC, this one was against them. The safeties ignited, and Double-D hit the ground, right behind three titans blocking the entrance to the craggy area that BT and Cooper had hid inside. The three IMC titans turned, and cheered. They probably said something to Jules, but Julius couldn't hear them: His comms weren't connected to the IMC anymore. He simply raised his chaingun, and fired upon them. One was a Ronin whose shields had been destroyed, so DD's bullets tore through the chassis. Then, another, a Scorch, launched a thermite ball at the new titan, but was promptly hit in the face with it, as it reflected off his shields. The ball hit the gas canister on his back, and blew up, coating both him and the Legion, who was spinning up his gun, in flames. They both promptly ejected, only to be taken out by 20mm AP rounds, tearing them to shreds in the air.

" _I thought you didn't kill pilots,"_ Said a vaguely familiar voice through the radio. _"Laughlin' here, I've got you on comms."_

"Why not Briggs, or Barker, or even Gates?" asked Julius, as he moved into the craggy rocks.

" _They were too hasty, forgot to link you. However, I was tinkering with Double-D. You got kinda a shitty AI, you know that?"_

"He doesn't like strangers getting inside him and messing with his insides," Said Julius, as he heard the tell tale sound of an ejection.

Was he too late?

He looked up, and saw an IMC pilot flying through the air limply.

He was most definitely not.

 _"_ _Fair enough. Cooper is engaging a Tone, a Ronin, and a Brute chassis. The Tone is low on shields, but the other two are holding their own_ ," Said Laughlin' through the radio, and Jules grunted in acknowledgment. " _Hopefully, I'll see you on the ground. If not, it was nice knowing you for the, like, 7 sentences I said to you."_

 _"_ Wait, which one were you? The cranky one in the blue outfit or are you the one with the purple hair strand?" Asked Jules, and he could hear Laughlin' giggle through the comm.

 _"The cranky one is Whip, I'm the one with the purple hair strand. Name's Kara Valentina. But you can call me Laughlin'."_

"Well, Laughlin', I'm Julius Carper, but you can call me Hitler, apparently," Julius joked, and he could imagine DD's optical unit rolling in its holder. "Pleasure to meet you."

" _Meet? I thought we were saying goodbye! This is a suicide mission after all."_

"Fair point."

Jules pushed through the crags towards the gunfire, and saw a Vanguard chassis holding up a vortex shield, before launching a bunch of rounds towards the Ronin. Jules rounded the corner, and fired a single shot, before the gun jammed. It was enough, because the Ronin went limp and fell backwards.

"Motherfucker! Of all the goddamn times it could jam, now is not the one!" shouted Julius, before dropping the machine gun, and firing his acolyte pods at the Tone. They impacted, but not to the effect Jules was used to. The Tone returned fire, and DD raised his reflection core.

Too late.

The 40mm shot shattered against DD's chassis, fracturing and punching through, right into the cockpit. A massive shard tore into Jules' shoulder, splattering blood onto the screen, which was already blurry due to the penetration of the 40mm round.

"Double-D! Auto pilot!" shouted Jules, relinquishing his hands from the controls, and immediately grabbing the medical packet from the top of the cabin. He quickly shoved a stim syringe into his leg, and then put a pair of plyers into his shoulder, pulling out the shard. Blood was pouring out of the opening now, covering the seat.

" _Pilot, I cannot analyze your heart rate. Are you injured?"_

"No, no, no! I-I'm fine!" shouted Jules, filling the wound with anti-clot gel.

" _Vocal patterns dictate you are lying."_

"Stop being a smartass and give me the comm!"

During the brief moment that Jules had been patching himself up, the Tone had been destroyed, and BT was in the middle of beating the Brute to death with its own gun.

BT and DD looked around, and nodded to one another, before BT opened his hatch, Cooper waving.

"Hey! Thanks for the assist! Is the three outside dead too?" asked Cooper, and Jules opened his hatch.

"Yeah, they're all down. DZ's clear?" asked Jules, wincing.

"As clear as it'll get, I'll alert command," Said Cooper, before talking on his radio. Within a minute, a bunch of titans hit the ground, ready for combat.

Briggs hopped out of her own titan, and looked up at Jules, who was still bleeding, albeit not as profusely, and laughed.

"You ever been shot, pilot?" asked Briggs, and Jules nodded.

"Like I said, I'm good inside the cockpit, not outside," said Jules, before wincing. "What's the plan now, ma'am?"

"We need to destroy the _Andromeda's_ mobile base," Said Briggs, before looking up. It was about to come crashing down.

"Fucking hell! What do we do now?" asked Gates, and Julius coughed, hopping out of the cockpit.

"There's still a way to take it down. It's a suicide mission, but they won't have a mobile base anymore," Said Jules, before falling to his knees.

"And how do you suppose we do that, pilot?" asked Ranger, before walking over in his Northstar. "Or was your plan to stall us, get hit, and fake death so you could go back to the IMC?"

Laughlin' opened her cockpit. "Ranger, you seriously need to piss off. He just risked his own hide to save one of us, and you're still acting like a child."

"You cannot speak to your superior like that!" shouted Ranger, before Briggs groaned.

"Enough! Let the man speak, he's on borrowed time," Briggs said, pursing her lips. "Brachial artery, huh?"

"Not enough fusion gel in the world to keep arteries together," Jules said, breathing heavily. "I've got maybe twenty minutes til the gel breaks, then I'm done for."

"Well, let's hear your plan to see if it's crazy enough to pull off or if we should just go home and lick our wounds," Said Cooper, and Julius got to his feet.

"IMC Ronins are the only ones outfitted with a nuclear core. It's basically made so they can phase dash and start to overload when they're in the middle of a fight. We don't treat our titans like you guys do. Ours, for the most part, barring a few, like DD, are expendable."

"And? What, we detonate it near the base and hope for the best?"

"The _Andromeda's_ mobile base has its own nuclear core, see the thing in the middle with the vent in the top of it? If we can detonate this Ronin's chassis inside," Julius pointed towards the Ronin he killed with a single shot. "We can make the entire base go up in flames. However, a Ronin isn't going to get in there alone, so it'll need covering fire."

Julius' mind was racing, wondering how would be the best way to evac the other pilots while also maximizing cover fire capability, without getting them killed in the process. He had always been a brilliant tactician, but never anything on this scale. "DD, give me the most time we have to safely evac."

 _"_ _Exactly 22 seconds it will take them to load, take off, and jump to a safe distance_ ," DD said solemnly.

"Make it thirty seconds. You'll need to get on a ship out of here thirty seconds before detonation. It will be nuclear, so you're gonna want to be in orbit by the time it goes off," Jules said, before getting to his feet again.

"Well, now the question stands, who's going to pilot the Ronin?" asked Whip, and Jules lowered his head.

"DD00, transfer pilot command to Sarah Briggs of the IMC. After I get into that Ronin, she's your new commander," Jules said, and DD cocked his head.

" _Understood. Will you return?"_ Asked DD, and Jules smiled.

"Not this time, buddy," Jules said, and DD's main optical unit squeezed to a small squint in sadness.

" _Understood pilot, it's been an honor serving with you."_

"Woah, woah, woah, wait a second," Cooper said, hopping out. "There's no way to evac you?"

"Unless I somehow destroy that small vent on top, eject through it, and you guys somehow catch me, I'm a dead man walking," Jules said, before cracking his neck. "Regardless, we're out of time."

Cooper looked at Briggs, who shook her head, before climbing into her titans hand. All the pilots were shocked. He was going to go on a suicide mission for the Militia, hours after defecting from the IMC. Even Bear and Ranger were a little dumbfounded.

"If that is your decision, pilot. We can always retake the planet later," Said Briggs, but Jules shook his head.

"It'll be a major blow to the remnant fleet if we take this thing down here," Jules said, before pulling off his helmet and lighting a cigarette. He walked over to the Ronin, and used the emergency release to open the hatch. He pulled out the pilot, and hopped in, spurring up the Ronin. "It's on, and it's got its nuclear core ready to roll."

"Alright, Laughlin', call in a drop ship prepared to evac all the titans that were dropped," Briggs said, before looking back at Jules, who took a drag off his cigarette, and tossed it onto the ground, using the Ronin's foot to put it out.

"Good luck, pilot. We'll see you on the other side."


	6. Chapter 6: Heaven

Laughlin' watched as the lone Ronin took off down the hillside, sprinting towards the base. The rest of the titans with longer range weaponry, including Double-D, took positions on the rocks, aiming their weapons at the bases defenses. The ones who piloted Scorches and Ronins were on lookout, just in case there were more titans ready to come and give them a bad day.

" _Briggs, this is Barker, sending down a dropship. It'll be cloaked until you give us the okay,"_ Barker said over the radio.

" _Copy that. Laughlin', you're the only one with radio contact with Jules, right?"_ Asked Briggs, and Laughlin' sighed, shaking her head, knowing they can't see her.

"I had contact with his titan, not him. We didn't hook up any communications with him. All we can hope for is if we time it just right," Said Laughlin', and she heard Briggs groan.

" _Shit, okay, after he breaches the defenses, we leave."_ Briggs said, and everyone grunted in acknowledgment.

They watched as the Ronin pushed towards the base, and suddenly came under fire. The other titans fired as much weaponry as they could, bullets pinging off the side of the base. The occasional tracking rocket cluster ripped into the defenses, but they were basically on an intimidation run. The Ronin reached the wall, looking surprisingly intact, and started to use its sword to rip through the gates of the base. Obviously, they weren't prepared for an assault by anything, as the door gave quite easily, and the Ronin jumped inside.

" _Alright, Barker, get your ass down here!"_ Shouted Briggs into the comms. Laughlin' watched, as she could see titan parts go flying into the air, with the occasional grunt, spectre, and she even saw a stalker go careening over the wall.

A cloaked dropship materialized above them, and all the pilots and titans hopped on, except for Jules. Barker looked perplexed, seeing Double-D without its pilot. "Where's Jules?"

"Dead," Said Ranger, hopping out of his Northstar. "Fly off."

" _Negative, my pilot is still alive. He is using a Ronin class titan as a means to detonate a nuclear weapon inside the mobile base,"_ DD00 said, before looking at the base. An explosion was heard from the inside. " _There is a 27% chance that we will be able to evacuate with him."_

"There's a zero chance, DD," Said Briggs, patting him on the leg. "Unless we fly low enough to grab him out of the ejection phase, and jump immediately afterwards, he's staying down there."

"I can do that," Said Barker, taking a drink of moonshine. Briggs looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Why would you want to risk yourself like that? Risk us all like that?" asked Briggs, slightly irritated.

"Look, I owe his dad one, okay? He saved my ass back in the day, and I never got to return the favor. So I think it's only fair I help the poor kid out if I can," Said Barker, before turning back to the cockpit controls. "We're going to attempt it. If we miss him, we're jumping. No need to worry, I got it under control."

"Fine, but if you get us killed, I'm coming back to haunt your sorry ass," Said Briggs, before Gates hopped out of her titan.

"Permission to speak?"

"Granted."

"Fuck that. We need to leave. We're risking everyone aboard this ships life for a single man, who was our enemy up until maybe 4 hours ago," Said Gates, before pointing towards the base. "It was his decision to go on the suicide mission. Don't make it our suicide mission."

"I concur," Ranger said, and Whip nodded. "We got Cooper back, and he's as good as Jules, and he doesn't kill civilians."

"Woah, woah, guys, c'mon. He just saved my ass. Sure, he's barely defected IMC, but he came down here on his own accord, and fought alongside me. I think we surely owe him a chance," Said Cooper, and they all looked at him, and Laughlin' hopped down.

"I agree with Cooper. He may have done some bad things in the past, killed our friends, destroyed a settlement, but it was orders. We've killed his friends, destroyed entire ships filled with his people, but we don't consider ourselves horrible people, do we?" asked Laughlin', and Ranger put his hands up.

"Don't want to hear it, Laughlin'. As your superior, I'm asking you to stop speaking," Said Ranger, and Laughlin' looked at him with disdain.

"My _superior_? Fuck you!" shouted Laughlin', getting a recoil from Ranger. "Why, because you founded the Hunters, you think that you control us? How about I fuck off from the Hunters, and work for Briggs solely, eh?"

Ranger put his hands up, sighed, and walked away. Barker just laughed from the front. "Whatever decision you made, it doesn't matter, because this is my ship, and I'm piloting it, so fuck yourselves, and I suggest one of you gets your Titan on the outside, because I think I just saw the top fly off the main battery of the base."

"Fuck! BT! You like to throw and catch stuff! Get out there!" shouted Bear. Everyone was taken by surprise by Bear's active role in making sure that Jules got out of there alive. The door opened, and BT looked outside. His optical unit focused on a single human flying through the air, limply. They were on a course to it, and BT reached his hand out, grabbing the pilot out of the air, as the sound of a nuclear core going off filled the air. The door slapped shut, and the ship jumped into space, near the _Alexandria_. The passengers looked down at Galantis, watching as a small blip appeared on the surface, which slowly disappeared.

BT dropped the pilot on the ground, bloody and broken. He was still bleeding heavily from his shoulder, and his chest rose ever so slightly. It seemed that he had smashed through the ventilation system using his own body, as several bones were broken. Cooper ran over, and quickly injected him with a stim, before going to work on the dying pilot.

"Jesus, that looks terrible," Said Whip, pulling off her helmet. "We should just upload him."

"Yeah, how about we don't. That takes time and effort, and a lot of damn money, and he'll survive if we get him to medical attention quick," Said Briggs, kneeling next to Cooper. Then Laughlin' walked over, and started to help peel off his suit. Soon, even Gates and Bear were helping to make sure that Jules survived. Cooper owed him his life, and the Militia owed him for keeping Galantis IMC free, even if it might only be a couple more days.

* * *

"Alright buddy, what's your name?" asked Jules to the Ronin.

" _My service tag is LVR74, but my previous owner called me 'Lover',"_ said the titan in a feminine name.

"I'm sorry about your previous pilot," Said Jules, shaking his head. "But I'm your new pilot."

" _What shall I call you, pilot?"_

"What was your old pilot's name?"

" _Sarah Dean."_

"Just call me Dean, then, 'Lover'."

" _Acknowledged."_

Julius started to move the titan towards the IMC base, breathing in deeply. His shoulder hurt, and it was odd getting used to the movements of the Ronin. He pushed forward, when he suddenly got an alert from the IMC.

" _Dean, we are about to come under fire from IMC defenses. Please authenticate your code."_

"That's a negative Lover. The IMC killed your old pilot, so we're going to get some revenge."

 _"_ _Acknowledged."_

The Ronin came under fire, and LVR raised her Leadwall, firing at the turrets on the wall. Bullets pinged off the shield of the Ronin, which was holding up exceptionally well since recharging. Suddenly, a hail of fire came from the side of the mountains that Jules had just been on, hitting the turrets frequently enough to throw them off.

LVR dashed towards the giant gate, and plunged her sword through the gap in the wall, prying open the gate. She opened it, and dashed inside, the gate closing behind her. They were surrounded by different titans, all gearing up to take her down. Most of them were Ions, or Tones, which would mean it would be a difficult fight.

"Lover, do you have any music?"

" _Yes, I have a single track ready."_

"A single one?"

" _Yes, it is called 'Megalovania', my pilot picked it out of an old video game OST section back on earth. She was very fond of it."_

"Then play it."

The music started to play, as Jules activated the sword core which had been charging. The arc blade sent shockwaves at the enemy titans, destroying their shields with a single blow. Jules dashed in and out of the enemy fire, taking a lot of damage, but holding up under the pressure. LVR's sword was more than enough to destroy the unshielded titans, cutting them apart, or stabbing through the cockpit. One after another, the titans fell, their pilots still inside. By the time Jules was done, LVR was doomed.

" _Pilot, please eject, my core is ruptured and a nuclear detonation is imminent."_

"That's exactly what we need, Lover, we're going to blow this place sky high using it."

" _Acknowledged. Will I be joining my pilot in 'heaven'?"_

It was the first time he had heard a titan reference heaven. Coming from a highly religious family, he had learned all about Christianity, which was still growing in the core regions of the world. He had never truly taken to it, but he often used "Jesus Christ!" to show displeasure. He had never, in his wildest dreams, thought a titan would reference it.

"Yes, I suppose so," Jules said, sadness in his voice. He had often assumed that only him and DD had the bond of titan and pilot. It saddened him to know that LVR still longed for her original pilot.

" _Good, I will be happy to see Sarah again."_

Jules dashed through the base, dodging other titans and defenses as best as he could. Suddenly, as he approached the reactor of the base, a Northstar had fired its plasma railgun at LVR. It ripped off her arm, sending the Leadwall careening into the air. The act of losing the arm caused Jules' own arm to vibrate wildly, jerking left and right, as the neural link was attempting to compensate for the lack of an arm. Jules screamed out in pain, as his arm broke in several places, and finally dislocated from his shoulder, sending several parts of the gel holding it in place all over the chassis. Blood splattered everywhere all over the cabin, as the bleeding resumed.

" _Pilot, are you injured?"_

"Remove my right arm from neural link, and proceed to the reactor!" shouted Jules through gritted teeth. LVR made her way to the reactor gates, and used her good arm to pry the gates open. She dashed inside, and the gates closed behind her.

Jules' gieger counter was going crazy, as they approached the reactor core. His right arm was broken to hell, he was bleeding out, so a little radiation poisoning wasn't anything to raise alarms about. Even though he was sure he was going to die, he had to attempt to escape.

"Lover, use your sword to open that vent above the reactor, and place yourself underneath it, so that when I eject, I go up through it."

" _Negative, Dean, the broadsword will not reach the vent. You will have to break through it using your velocity."_

 _"_ Ooh, that is going to hurt like a bitch," Said Jules, but shook his head. Lover positioned herself underneath the vent, and Jules sighed.

"Well, Lover, it's been a pleasure. If you see your pilot in heaven, please tell her Pilot Julius Carper says that you are a good titan, and that she should consider herself lucky."

" _Acknowledged, pilot. It has been a pleasure on my behalf as well."_

With that, Jules activated the ejection. He flew out the top of the titan, and punched through the vent, hitting his back through the first metal piece, then using his head to punch through the second ringing his bell quite well. His ribs were broken to hell as he flew through the air, the only reason his back still intact was because of the reinforcement almost every pilot went through for their back and knees. He vaguely saw a dropship fly towards him, an arm extended. As he hit it, he blacked out.

* * *

Julius sat up in bed, looking around him. He coughed loudly, as gel liquids came out of his esophagus. His head was pounding, and his body felt raw. He looked at his arm, and noticed an IV in his veins, and pulled it out. He didn't know where he was, or if he was even alive. Was this heaven?

He stood up, his legs shaky, before walking over to the mirror on the other side of the quaint room. His hair had grown out, and a stubble was growing on his jaw. The new hair that had grown out was a dull grey, mixed with bits of brilliant white. He sighed, before taking a step back, remembering what had happened. He quickly pulled down his shirt, and revealed a nasty looking scar where the 40mm shrapnel had torn it up. He was alive, somehow.

He quickly gathered himself to his surroundings, and opened a closet, revealing a jumpsuit. He pulled it out, realizing it was an exact replica of his IMC jumpsuit. Except this one didn't have any IMC logos. Instead, in its place, it had the skull of the marauder corp. On its shoulder was a pair of bars, and on its chest was a single line of embroidered lettering.

 _Captain Carper._

Jules quickly put it on, and walked outside. The hall was very mechanical, far different from the hallways of the IMC ships. At least, he assumed he was on a ship. The constant whirring could be anything, even a generator. He walked down the hallway, and looked at the signs. He followed the one directed towards the bridge, before being led to a pair of closed doors, flanked by two grunts.

"Ah, Captain Carper! Welcome back, we hope you've recovered well," said one of the grunts. "Briggs has been waiting for you to wake up for the last couple days. She's inside, lemme get the door for you."

"Uh, thank you, soldier."

Jules walked in, realizing he was still on the Alexandria. Briggs and Barker, were on the bridge. One of the soldiers working one of the computers noticed Carper, and immediately stood up. "Captain on deck!"

Briggs and Barker turned around, as the rest of the soldiers stood up and saluted. Briggs smiled, and walked over to Jules, putting her hand out.

"Welcome back, _Captain_ ," She said with great emphasis. "We were beginning to think you weren't going to wake up after the second week, but you know what they say, third times a charm."

"Uh, thank you, ma'am." Jules was at a loss for words. Barker came up and patted him on the shoulder as he shook Briggs' hand.

"Care for some moonshine?" asked Barker. "In celebration of our victory on Galantis, and the promotion of its hero, Captain Julius Carper."

"What?"

"Ah, he's been out for a while," Said Briggs, smiling. "You're an official captain in the Militia now, Marauder Corp."

Jules eyes grew wide, as he realized what had happened.

"Welcome to the Militia, pilot. We hope you stick around."


	7. Chapter 7: Old Friends, New Enemies

"So, fill me in on what has happened since I've been out," Said Jules, lighting a cigarette as he sat down. "Actually, first, tell me how long I've been out."

"Doc put you under for three weeks, reinforced the broken bones and used the self healing gel, though he said pilots have been known to wake up before the coma has completely run its course," Said Briggs, leaning back in her chair.

They were in the officers lounge on the _Alexandria,_ but it was almost completely empty. The other officers and pilots were out on missions, or in the hangar, repairing their titans. Only Cooper and a couple of members of the 6-4 were on board: The Hunters, Gates, Bear, Davis, and a group of the Aces were on a mission on _Labrador_ , which they had recently retaken, as the Remnant Fleet had retreated after a violent counter attack on the _Andromeda_ and its escorts. They finally had the means to outfit their titans with surplus gear, which had been a problem in the past.

"We retook Labrador as of last week, besides that, things have been pretty quiet lately: The Remnant Fleet retreated farther towards their side of the system, probably licking their wounds. The Scepter system's Militia forces have been moving to push the remnant fleet out of that portion of the Frontier. I think we may be close to ending this war."

"Yeah, hopefully we can push them far enough back that no amount of reinforcements from the core systems can turn the tide," Said Jules, taking a drag off his cigarette. "Doc explain why my hair went white?"

"Said it was due to the enormous stress your body went through during the immediate recovery from the wounds. It took a lot out of your body to recover, a lot more than a regular human," Said Briggs, looking at Jules' white hair. "Might be permanent, might not be. Regardless, you might want to get a haircut, not everyone, including you, looks good with shaggy hair."

"Point taken," Jules said, taking another drag off of his cigarette. "I'll get it cut asap. Anything else I should know?"

"We've taken the liberty of copying DD's chassis and loadout, however we still haven't solved the problem of the shield. He's effective, but a pilot who isn't as skilled, or even has the neural link you have will quickly perish inside his chassis."

"So, what do you propose?" asked Jules, ashing his cigarette in the ash tray on the table.

"We'd be able to give DD a shield if we replaced his core technology with a lighter load, something that doesn't level entire towns. Something that might have the coverage of a building," Said Briggs. "He just doesn't have enough room or weight reliability to keep a core that large on him, and be able to use a shield."

"Isn't that the whole point of his chassis? A lot of offensive power, but not a ton of defense? It works with the Stryder-class titans," Said Jules, and she shook her head.

"We did some tests on his alloys. A single, fully charged shot to the chassis could burn a hole right through it, and into the pilot. Not a ton you can do if even a grunt gets his sights on you," Said Briggs. "It's your call, but unless you wanna get hurt like you did last time, I suggest you allow us to install a shield."

"Fine, but he loses his WMD on legs title after that," Jules said, before standing up. "What about my armor?"

"Ah yes, we took the chance to repair your old stuff," said Briggs, smiling. "It's still basically plate and Kevlar, but we added some leg plates, as well as some shoulder pads."

"Great," Jules said, cracking his neck. "I'm not the best outside of the cockpit, so I'll need all the protection I can get."

"That where you get all those scars?" asked Briggs, and Jules nodded.

"I'm okay with a gun, pretty decent at mobility, absolutely shit at not getting hit," Jules said, looking around. "Anything you need help with?"

"The Hunters have recently requested back up. It's not dire, but I'm sure they could use the help."

"Sure, but if DD is getting a shield put in…"

"We'll extract his core, and put it into whatever chassis you need," Said Briggs, smiling. "What did you pilot before the Aquila?"

"Ion. Solid chassis, and DD was effective in it," Said Jules, and Briggs raised her eyebrows.

"He was your titan even in the Ion? He's been around, hasn't he?"

"Yeah, I've never had a replacement Titan," Said Jules, smiling. "I'm gonna head out now. All my stuff in my room?"

"Yeah, everything should be there," Said Briggs, and Jules saluted, and walked out.

* * *

Jules flew through the air, inside a brand new Ion Chassis. It had been the second time he dropped into the atmosphere of Labrador. He slammed into the ground, and used the titan to look around.

"This is Jules, I'm on the ground," Said Jules, and he heard laughing through the radio.

 _"_ _Welcome back, sleeping beauty! This is Gates, we're about 500m to the southwest of you,"_ Gates said, and Jules smiled.

"Alright, resetting polarity, I should get my bearings in a minute," Said Jules, and clicked some diagnostic buttons on the titan HUD. The compass on the HUD righted itself, and marked itself in the direction Gates was in.

" _Captain Carper, Gates is alone, shall I run a diagnostic to locate the others?"_

Jules chuckled. "No need to call me Captain, DD. Don't run the diagnostic yet."

Julius finally looked around the area he was in. He had to give it to the Militia, they did some good terrain mapping. He had landed in what looked like a volcanic valley, complete with giant, obsidian spires. A perfect place for the IMC to hide out. He pushed through the valley, and found Gates, sitting on top of her Vanguard Class Titan.

"Hey there Jules, have a good nap?" asked Gates, jumping off the top of her titan. "I hung back to pick you up, the rest have pushed forward into the valley. Good to have you back pilot."

"Good to be back," Jules said, opening his hatch.

"We didn't have a chance to thank you for what you did on Galantis, but on behalf of the 6-4, you're pretty alright," Gates said, about to climb into her own titan. "For an IMC pilot."

Jules just chuckled, and followed Gates into the valley. He looked up towards to the top of the valley, and saw a group of titans, sitting in a circle at the base of a giant purification center. Jules sighed, getting flashbacks to the first time he was on Labrador. They continued towards the purification center, stepping over lava flows, before climbing a sheer wall with the titans.

At the top, he saw Bear, Davis, Whip, Laughlin', Ranger, and two pilots he didn't know, adorned with the "ACES" logo on their titans. Only Laughlin' and Bear stood up to greet Julius. He hopped out of his titan, and shook their hands.

"Welcome back, Carper," Laughlin' said, hitting him on the shoulder. "Glad you're back on your feet."

"Yeah, welcome back pilot. We owe you one for saving Cooper's ass down there, as well as saving the entire planet's ass," Bear said, raising his knuckles. Julius bumped him, and looked past them.

"Yeah, yeah, welcome back," Whip said, who was in deep with a conversation with Davis. She waved her hand, and Jules shrugged. The two unknown pilots hopped to their feet, and walked over, taking off their helmets.

"Ayo, I'm Damien Kruger, this is Mute," Said the taller of the two. The other waved, a smile on her face. She had numerous scars across her throat, and was missing an eye. "Her titan speaks for her, so don't get offended if you don't get an answer from her."

"Right. I'm Julius Carper," Said Jules, and suddenly the Ronin behind Mute laughed.

 _"We know who you are, pilot,"_ Said the Ronin in a feminine voice.

Julius just nodded, and put his helmet on. "So, what's the plan?"

Ranger jumped to his feet, and turned towards Julius. "You're gonna stay out here and make sure that no one comes to fuck us. We're going to go in do the heavy lifting. Don't want you fraternizing with your former teammates."

"That's not your call, Ranger," Gates said, putting a hand on her hip. "If Bear can get rid of his grudge against him, I think you can too."

"Fuck off, sheep," Said Ranger, before walking over to his Northstar. "I don't trust him, and I never will."

"Your loss," Laughlin' said, and ran to her tone.

Gates turned towards Julius, and pointed towards the top of the purification center. "The 6-4 and the Hunters are going to enter in from the top, you and the Aces are going to enter in from the bottom, we'll do a pincer movement. Inside is a force of 20+ grunts, and two pilots, one of which is an ace. We destroyed his titan, but he got away with its SERE kit, so make sure that you watch out for his smart pistol."

"Gotcha. No titans?" asked Jules, before hopping onto DD's chassis, grabbing the R-201 Carbine from inside, and holstering his P2016.

"No titans, so watch your back," Said Gates. Julius jumped down, and Mute grabbed the core from her titan, which glowed.

" _Gotta make sure I can communicate, right?"_ asked Mute rhetorically.

Jules gave her the thumbs up. The titans chucked the 6-4 and the Hunters towards the top, and Julius moved in behind the ACES. They kicked in the door, and moved inside, clearing the room. They moved exactly like pilots from the IMC, but it may have just been because it was a tried and true strategy.

A grunt walked down and wildly fired his R-201 at Jules, who quickly phase shifted out of the way. When he reentered his original dimension, the grunt was dead, and the ACEs gave him a thumbs up. They pushed through the dark corridors, their helmet lights the only thing illuminating the hallways. They cleared each room with deadly efficiency, when they heard gunshots from the top level.

" _Lower level squad, this is Gates. We've made contact with one of the pilots, he's been engaged. Grunts on their way to attack."_

"Copy that Gates, we'll continue our sweep," Said Damien, before nodding to the other two. They pushed up the stairs, and saw the glow of the red lights of an IMC pilot. Suddenly, bullets flung towards them, one clipping Mute's helmet.

" _Shit!"_ her core shouted, before jumping backwards. The enemy pilot continued to suppress the hallway, his shots getting less and less accurate.

"That's a smart pistol, let me go first," Said Jules, and Damien looked at him funny. "If the militia haven't done anything to my helmet, it won't lock onto me."

"Right, we'll back you up," Said Damien, as Jules took off.

Bullets pinged off the walls around Jules, hitting pipes and electronics, blowing them up. Jules returned fire, when suddenly a door opened up, Jules running into it. A grunt came through, EVA-8 Shotgun leveled at Jules' head, when it was suddenly knocked out of his hand. Jules had kicked himself onto his feet, and swiftly delivered a jaw-cracking right hook to the grunt, before kicking him in the ribs. He grabbed his rifle and sprinted after the pilot, reloading on the fly.

He followed the pilot up the stairs, who had already ran quickly through the stairs. Three grunts were on his flank, firing at Julius. Jules opened a door, and took cover behind it. He felt the bullets punching through the door and deflecting off of his Kevlar pads and plate, and waiting til the fire subsided for the most part. He then jumped out, using his jump kit to propulse him to the other side of the hall, returning fire. One of the bullets hit a grunt in the throat, sending him careening backwards, bleeding violently. The other two took cover, and Julius pushed them, before they popped up again and fired. He slid under their fire, before double jumping so that he almost hit the ceiling, firing the entire time. Another grunt was hit in the stomach, and he fell, dropping his gun. The final grunt threw a grenade, uncooked at Jules, who promptly slapped it out of the air back at the grunt. It exploded, and sent the grunt's body parts everywhere. Jules shook his head, and pushed forward.

 _Meanwhile…_

"Damn this pilot is a tough one!" shouted Laughlin', reloading her G2. She used one magazine to slap the other out of its breach, and shoved the new magazine in its place. The IMC pilot was obviously a stim user: He was flying all over the meeting room, harassing the Militia pilots with his Alternator.

"Fuckin' stim junkie!" shouted Bear, standing up, firing his spitfire in the general direction that he thought his enemy was in.

The IMC pilot flipped and slammed one of his feet into Bear's chest, launching him backwards. Bear activated his jump kit to make sure he didn't go flying out the window, and continued to fire. Ranger jumped up to fire at the IMC pilot with his CAR, but was hit in the arm, tearing it off. In place of blood, a bunch of wires and white liquid hung out. Ranger simply groaned.

"Damn it."

Gates quickly tried to wall run, only to be kneed in the face by the other pilot, who then came down upon Whip, who tried to grapple hook away. He threw his gun at her, and while she was distracted, tackled her, slamming her into the ground, and continued to run.

"I've had about enough of this shit," Laughlin' said, before throwing a gravity star in the IMC pilots direction. He got sucked in, and flailed for a moment, before Laughlin' raised her rifle, and fired. The bullet got stuck in the gravitational pull, and when the star detonated, sent it careening in Ranger's direction. This one tore off his other arm.

" _Motherfucker!"_

Laughlin' looked in his direction, before turning back to see that Davis had been kicked across the room, into Bear, and they had both went flying out the room. It was only Laughlin' and the IMC pilot left. The IMC pilot landed in the middle of the room, taking a batman like pose, before looking up at Laughlin' dramatically.

"Well, that's a shame," Said Laughlin', before the IMC pilot stood up.

"You and me, one on one, no guns, just our fists," said the IMC pilot. Laughlin' nodded, dropping her G2. The IMC pilot started to sprint towards her, when Laughlin' quickly drew her Wingman and put a round straight through his helmet. He slid comedically towards Laughlin', its thrusters still firing, and out the window.

"Everyone marginally okay?" asked Laughlin', holstering her pistol, and picking up her G2. Ranger looked up at her, and lifted his arms.

" _Abso-fucking-lutely not."_

"You can get that shit replaced, stop complaining."

 _"_ _Bear and Davis here, we're alive."_

"My head hurts…" Gates rolled over and groaned.

"I think my ribs are broken." Whip stood up shakily.

"Good, so we're combat ready then, besides, uh, Ranger," Laughlin' said, looking over at Ranger.

 _"You can fuck off."_

Suddenly, from the inside of the building, Julius punched through the tinted glass window, tackling an IMC pilot, who quickly stood up, and pointed his smart pistol towards the other pilots.

" _Full mag, Julius. One wrong move, and they're dead."_

* * *

Julius had finally reached the top of the stairs, and there stood the pilot, aiming at Julius. Jules dropped his rifle, and put his hands up.

"Well, well, well," Said the other pilot, using his free hand to pull off his helmet. "If it isn't the deserter. We assumed you died in the explosion on Galantis."

"Well, I guess I'm a zombie," Julius said, before his eyes widened.

"Happy to see me, Jules?" Asked Walker, dropping his helmet.

"Jesus Christ, of all the fucking pilots I could run into. Is Tripp in here too?"

"Yes, he is. And he's going to deal with your new friends. And I'm going to deal with you," Said Walker. "Why did you leave in the first place?"

"If you killed hundreds of civilians without knowing, you'd leave too."

"Pfft, no I wouldn't," said Walker, laughing. "I'd kill thousands of civilians, and go to sleep knowing I helped the IMC. I've done it before, and I'll do it again."

"What?!"

Walker just shook his head, before sighing. "Always the naïve one, weren't you, Julius? What you lacked in common sense, you made up for in sheer ability to fight inside your titan. Those of us who aren't as skilled don't get to be sheltered from the real part of the war."

"You'd willingly kill civilians!? They've done nothing wrong!" shouted Julius, balling up his fists.

"It's not about what they have done, its about what they will do!" shouted Walker, holding the gun steady. "If one day we don't kill civilians, they next day, they'll be in titans!"

"Well if you didn't kill them in the first place, then maybe they wouldn't be shooting at you!"

Walker groaned. "Jesus fucking Christ, Jules. They look at us as invaders, of course they're going to be shooting at us. What's next? Just don't invade them? That would be easy, wouldn't it? But no, these resources are for the Core systems, and by god am I going to let a bunch of fucking space hillbillies keep it from us!" Walker moved his pistol away in anger, throwing his hand up into the air as if he was exasperated, and Jules charged him, tackling him through the tinted window, into a room filled with the other pilots.

Walker boosted away from Julius, stood up, and pointed the pistol towards the other pilots, who were just recovering from a fight with the other pilot. "Full mag, Julius. One wrong move, and they're dead."

Julius studied the gun, before sighing. "Let's take it easy."

"Fuck you! You come here to kill us all, and then tell me to take it easy! I swear to fucking god, I will end you motherfucker!"

Suddenly, a gunshot sounded, and the smart pistol flew out of Walker's hand. Jules quickly drew his P2016, and fired at Walker. He quickly dodged out of the way, before sprinting up to Jules, and punching him in the gut. Jules tried to counter, but got kneed in the side for his efforts, and was thrown to the ground. He kicked off Walker, and jumped up, throwing another punch, before his arm being grabbed, twisted, and thrown again. He landed on the ground, but Walker quickly overcame him, knife in hand.

"You were never good at hand to hand, Jules," Said Walker. Jules was focusing on keeping the blade from entering his throat, when he realized he could phase shift again. He phase shifted, dropping Walker onto the ground. He stood up, and was shot in the back, the bullet passing straight through him. He recovered quickly, running for his smart pistol, when Jules materialized behind him, having just enough time to grab Walker's P2016, and fired two shots into his back, and one into the back of his helmet.

Walker hit the ground, blood spewing out of his back. He was dead, no doubt about it. Jules looked behind him to see Mute, her Flatline assault rifle leveled, its barrel smoking.

"Fucking shit." Jules said, looking at the corpse of Walker, a pool of blood forming around his head. He knew Walker never liked wearing a back plate, on account of being able to move faster without it. For anyone else, he would've gone for all headshots, but he knew Walker.

He knew Walker.

Jules wanted to cry. His two friends had been killed, and one was by his hand. He felt traumatized. He had also broken his rules: Don't kill a pilot if unnecessary, and don't kill a grunt if unnecessary. He could've slapped the grenade away and shot the grunt downstairs, but he didn't. He could've shot Walker in the leg, and choked him out, but he didn't. He sighed, and threw the gun on the ground, before picking up his own. He didn't even want to see Tripp's corpse- that would've sent him over the edge.

"Building is clear?" asked Gates, pulling off her helmet and rubbing her head.

" _Yes ma'am. Damien went downstairs after he saw Bear and Davis falling. We took chase after Julius after we heard him break through a window. We were worried."_

"Good. Let's get the hell off this planet," Said Gates, putting her helmet back on. The pilots jumped out the window, leaving Jules standing over his dead friend.

"Sorry Walker. Wish it coulda gone differently." Jules ran over to the edge of the building, and jumped out after the other pilots.

The dropship was already waiting, the titans already loaded onto the dropship. Julius ran up, and sat down next to Laughlin', who had taken her helmet off. She was sweaty, drenched so much that beads of sweat ran down her hair.

The dropship took off, and jumped into space, only a few kilometers away from the _Alexandria_. Laughlin' looked out the window in amazement, looking at the volcanic planet, before turning to Jules.

"Did you know that pilot? The one you killed?"

Jules sighed. "Both of them, actually. Graduated with them. They were my battle buddies back in the IMC. Good pilots, though not good men."

Laughlin' nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. There was no way around it. I guess I've learned more and more that this is the true face of war, not just battling it out in titans."

Laughlin' cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"I never treated this as a war. I never truly had a stake when I was in the IMC, I was just apart of it because my parents were apart of it. I knew we were fighting over land using soldiers and stuff, but that's it. I mean, I knew there was more to it, but I never bothered to think about it," Jules said, pulling off his own helmet, revealing his shaggy grey and white hair. "I always just enjoyed fighting in the Titan. I've always been good at it, even since I started. But now, I guess it's different."

"I'd like to say I understand, but I don't."

"Fair enough. I guess I was a very sheltered pilot. I didn't even know it was a regular thing to kill civilians on a regular basis for the IMC."

Laughlin' nodded. " 'One day the civilians weren't dead. The next day, they were in titans.' It's terrible, but it's the truth. To them, the people of the frontier are the enemy. And in war, you eliminate the enemy."

Jules sighed. "You'd think as a veteran pilot, you'd know this stuff."

"I'm a little surprised that you don't, honestly. But at least you know it's wrong, and you came over to the right side to make sure that the IMC don't have the chance to do it for much longer."

"Yeah, I guess so." Jules ran his hands down his face, before leaning back. "I'd rather have to kill more on this side, than do anything for the IMC at this point."

"That's reassuring. I know that some of the other pilots don't like you that much, but most of us know where you're heart lies, Jules. Don't you worry, we're not going to be killing any civilians any time soon."

"Glad to hear."


	8. Chapter 8: Downtime

"So, anyway, this pilot gets finished kicking our ass, and asks for a fair fight with Laughlin'. Laughlin' agrees, and then, in true Hunter fashion, as he sprints towards her, she draws her Wingman and caps the dude. His thrusters are still firing, and he slides out the fucking window in a spiral, and basically flies all the way back to the FOB where we dropped," Said Gates, laughing. Laughlin' shifted in her seat uncomfortably. She looked over at Jules, who was sitting in an older lounge chair, smoking what was probably his 10th cigarette in a row. He seemed anxious.

The members or the squad that went down to Labrador had settled inside the medical hall, as most of them had wounds to tend to. The members of the Angel City Elite had gone and jumped to another ship for the time being, but had left the members of the 6-4, the Hunters, and Jules back on the _Alexandria_. Laughlin' and Jules had remained mostly unscathed, bar Jules having a few bruises with his fist fight with Walker and the bullets that had hit his plate carrier, he was fine.

They were now just waiting for Whip to get out of the room. Most of them had a few bandages here and there, except for Ranger, who simply sat in his chair, armless. His nubs had been tied off with gauze, as the discharge of liquid had stopped, which meant all that needed to happen now was replacement limbs. A few other pilots, including Barker and Briggs, as well as Cooper, had joined them in the waiting room.

"Jesus, that must've been a sight to see," Briggs said, smiling. "A dead IMC pilot is a good IMC pilot." Jules looked down. Barker raised an eyebrow.

"That is, unless they defected." Briggs followed the statement with a nervous chuckle. Whip walked out of the medical bay with a bottle of pills, holding her ribs.

"All the ones on the right side are either broken or fractured. Left ones are intact," Said Whip, grimacing as she tried to speak. Ranger scoffed.

"I don't have arms, don't complain."

"You're a robot, you didn't even feel it."

" _Fuck you."_

Jules ashed the cigarette inside his ashtray, before taking another drag off it. He hadn't felt quite right since he got back to the _Alexandria_. He wasn't hurt, but more like things were in a bit of a haze. The doctor chalked it up to being shock, but Jules had gone through more than enough training to prevent shock from watching one of his friends die. Maybe it was the action of killing him that had put him off.

"Alright, well, it's getting late," Said Barker, standing up. "I'm off to bed. I'll see you all later."

"I think I'll do the same," said Briggs, and Gates nodded.

"Hard fight, and the best thing for a concussion is to get some sleep," Said Gates. The other 6-4 members followed her out, Bear waving back at the group.

Ranger got to his feet, and hobbled after the 6-4, followed by Whip, wincing with each step.

"Well, I just woke up not even 5 hours ago, so," Jules said, sighing. "I guess I'll clean my weapons and stuff."

"Mind if I join you?" asked Laughlin'. Jules nodded, and looked at Cooper.

"Would you like to join us?" Asked Jules and Cooper shook his head, smiling.

"I've been doing that stuff all day. I should get some sleep as well," Said Cooper, rubbing the back of his head, backing out of the room. "But you two have fun!"

Jules waved as he left, and stood up. Laughlin' didn't budge.

"You coming?" asked Jules, and Laughlin' shook her head.

"I think I'll finish my coffee," she gestured towards her cup. "Mind waiting?"

Jules retook his seat, and crossed his legs. "I would be happy to."

Laughlin' simply smiled, and took a sip from her coffee. "So, Jules, what's your story?"

"Woah, gettin' a little personal here," said Jules, laughing. "Thought Militia pilots weren't keen on getting to know each other on account of their high mortality rates."

"Ours isn't as high as yours." Laughlin' smiled, lowering her cup. "That's just some bullshit spread around by your high command to make you think you're better."

Jules leaned back, nodding his head. "I guessed that might be the case, now that I'm here, and everyone I know has survived so far."

"Younger pilots generally don't last long, that's why the Militia has brought in mercs, like The Hunters and the 6-4, to handle the higher risk missions, while the younger guys build diplomas so they can be effective in combat," Laughlin' said, leaning back in her own chair. "You're working with the elite, which is good, because it seems you can't handle yourself in pilot on pilot combat."

"Oh, _fuck off_ ," Jules said, laughing. "Those guys were top of their goddamn class."

"And you weren't?"

"If we were in titans, I would've had them destroyed in seconds."

"Mhm, I bet you would," Laughlin' took another drink of her coffee. "Anyway, you were about to tell me what your story was."

"No, I wasn't, but nice try," Jules said, and Laughlin' nodded.

"How about this, tough guy. I tell you my story, and you tell me yours, and we'll call it even, huh?" Laughlin' smiled coyly. Jules simply laughed, before pulling another cigarette out of his pack.

"That might work on other guys, but not on me," Jules said. "I'm in a relationship with my titan."

"Oh please, you're gay for your titan?" asked Laughlin', and Jules shrugged.

"Sometimes DD changes his voice to a female one, and then 'he' becomes a 'she'. But that doesn't matter, because I love DD unconditionally." Jules' voice was layered with sarcasm.

"Huh, what a coincidence. I'm also in a relationship with my titan," Said Laughlin', smiling.

"I didn't know Tones loved anything but their 40mm," Said Jules, and Laughlin' laughed.

"Good point. Even other titans love Tone's 40mm."

Jules lit his cigarette, and offered it to Laughlin'. She accepted, taking a drag off of it, before coughing violently. Jules looked at her funny.

"Now why the hell would you try and smoke it if you don't smoke?"

"Because, you were offering." Laughlin' shook her head innocently, and Jules nodded.

"Fine, I'll tell you my story, but we'll be here for a while," Said Jules, and Laughlin' gestured to the room.

"An audience with nowhere to go. Besides, I'd rather do that than go back to the room and have Ranger gripe at me as soon as he sees me go inside."

Jules nodded, and took a drag off of his cigarette. "I was born in 2386, to an IMC officer and an IMC architect. I was born on Earth, funnily enough, but lived most of my childhood on a ship, as we moved around a lot. I never really made any friends, so I had a lot of time to spend working on book work and other things. My mother was keen on my never getting into a titan, as my father perished during the Titan wars when I was very young."

He looked at Laughlin' to see her leaned in, coffee cup in her hand. "I kept my promise for a while. We eventually settled on the planet of Remly, which was very much like Galantis. My mother retired and I got to put in some roots. I grew up like a normal kid, for the most part, after the age of 13. I studied hard, got good grades, had good friends, played gravity ball, had a wonderful girlfriend, even got accepted to the IMC College of Energy, which was based back on Earth."

"Seemed like you had a pretty good life going for you," Said Laughlin', before leaning back. "What changed?"

"Uh, well." Julius scoffed, before running his hands down his face. "I walked in on my girlfriend cheating on me on my 18th birthday. I sprinted out of that room and didn't stop until I reached the IMC recruitment center. I enlisted from there."

"Wait, you enlisted? How did you become an officer?" asked Laughlin', and Jules smiled.

"Now be patient, Lieutenant Valentina. I was originally a grunt, and served as a guard on a ship for a bit, before being rotated out to be a soldier in a war on Earth, something to do with the last bit of oil. It was there that the IMC found my combat prowess to be that more of a pilot than a grunt. I got placed in the pilots school with Professor Cheryl Brooch. I guess she saw promise in me, because she pushed me harder than most. Turns out I had some type of hidden talent to link to titans, because no matter what I got into, I knew immediately how to pilot it. I graduated at the top of my class in titans, and pretty mediocre in everything else. Walker was the best in hand to hand, and Tripp was a god when it came to anti-titan, which probably came from his ability to use copious amounts of stim and his heart not explode."

"Ah, yes, we found that out the hard way."

"That took me about four years, which landed us in 2408."

"The start of the Militia-IMC war."

"I was immediately shipped out with titan Chassis DD-182, only an Atlas at the time. We fought hard together for several years, until the new chassis came out. We then transferred to an Ion, and continued to fight. Then, Typhon happened, and the IMC realized they couldn't turn to Blisk and his mercenaries for everything. So only a week afterwards, they shipped out the Aquila class titan, and I was to be its sole pilot until testing was finished. Never got finished, obviously. So here I am."

"Wow, 26 years old, and already a master pilot, stuck inside a violent struggle of imperialist vs. natives."

"No, more like Imperialists vs. Colonists. The prowlers are the only ones who are the natives."

"Oh please, spare me the bullshit," Laughlin' said, laughing. Jules watched her patiently, a smile on his face, until she stopped laughing. "I suppose its my turn."

"Yes, yes it is."

"Well, I was born in 2388, to a woman in Angel City who didn't want me. I lived in poverty, stealing and barely scraping by until I was 14, when my real mother died, and two kind women picked me from the orphanage. They took me to Lilien, a wonderful, ocean planet filled with fish. From there, I became versed in every artform, from mathematics to drawing and writing, to martial arts. When I was 18, my new mothers bought me a sim-pod, where they taught me to pilot a titan."

"Wealthy?"

"Very, very wealthy. In fact, they sort of owned the planet."

"Impressive. Why'd you leave."

"Now it's your turn to be patient, Captain Carper."

Julius smirked, and leaned back. "You can't talk to your superior officer like that."

"You're not my superior officer, 'sir'. Anyway, I was only 20 when the war broke out. The IMC attacked our planet viciously, destroying our underwater cities, and ripping our families apart. The men were executed immediately, the women forced to work for the fishing industry so that they could keep food moving in between the military and the core systems. I left without my mothers, who I found out later had aided the IMC in taking the planet, and found myself in a bar in Tinius, a small moon off of the Castrius belt. There, I met Ranger and his student, Whip. I joined up with them, we stole a couple Titans, rewired them, and took off on our crusade against the IMC. We eventually linked with the Militia, and worked with them immensely, honing our skills at the same time. Eventually, when we realized our titans were outclasses, we went and stole some more, rewired them. Turned out they were Ace pilot titans, because they were heavily modified. So not only are we very well trained, but very well armed. And damn, do we look good."

"Yeah, I was about to say that your titan resembled one of ex-compatriots' titans, but he has been dead for months."

"Captain Soon-Yuk?"

"Yeah."

"I sort of, maybe, kinda, killed him in his sleep so I get his neural link access code to get inside JKR."

"Ah, well, can't say he didn't have it coming. He was kinda a dick. And you couldn't understand a fuckin' work he said, because he never bothered to learn English."

The two shared a laugh, before Jules sighed. "It's weird to think that I used to fight with those guys."

"How so?"

"I used to consider them my friends, my allies. I thought we were fighting for the good guys."

"In this war, there are no good guys. Its grey, no matter where you look." Laughlin' took a final sip of coffee. "On one hand, the more populated core systems need the resources. On the other hand, the IMC abandoned the frontier for their own needs, and came back believing that they still owned it all. Sure, the IMC kill civilians by the titan-load, but who are we to deny people what they need?"

Jules looked at Laughlin' quizzically. "So you're saying you don't support the militia?"

"I'm not saying that, not at all. I fully believe in what we're doing. I just realize that the people we see as invaders are, in their eyes, the saviors of the core regions. And we see ourselves as freedom fighters, protecting what's ours, but they just see us as terrorists. I'm sure you understand, you fought for them."

Jules nodded. "You're not wrong."

There was a long pause, until Jules finally piped up again. "I think we should get to cleaning our guns, eh?"

"Yeah, that might be a good idea."

* * *

" _Again!_ " shouted a voice over the intercom. Jules got to his feet, wiping blood from his lip, before taking a fighting posture again. Cooper stood up on the other end, completely free of wounds, smiling.

"For fucks sakes, we've been training for four hours!"

" _If you want to stand a chance on the field, you need to get better at hand to hand! We spend a considerable amount of time outside of our titan, so you can't just be good inside Double D and call it a day."_

"I have a gun!"

" _Your former comrades close the gap quick. What happens when one of our ace pilots take a blade to the throat? What do we do then?"_

Julius shook his head, before nodding at Cooper. Cooper charged at him, throwing a punch, which Julius took straight to the chest, knocking him over. There was a groan from the intercom.

" _Dodge it! Don't try and block an attack like that. It hurts now, but imagine what it feels like if you get hit by someone whose using their jump-pack! Your speed is your friend, Julius."_

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Briggs. Lemme try again," Said Jules, getting to his feet. Cooper charged at him, and Jules rolled out of the way, before doing a 180 and getting an elbow to the face.

" _Oh for Christ sakes. This is pathetic."_

They were in a massive training room, complete with foam walls and floors, as well as a medical bot on the sight. It had been almost a month since the pilots had last deployed. As of the moment, the Freeport system was safe from IMC. They had pulled out, after an absolute defeat with incomprehensible losses on the planet of Ligos. The _Alexandria_ had not taken part in the battle, but there was good info that the IMC would be pushing a counter attack. The pilots had to keep their mind and body prepared, and that meant keeping their skills sharp.

"Can we just have a break?" asked Cooper, looking up at the viewing booth. Briggs shook her head.

" _Not until Jules somehow beats you. And I don't want you going easy on him."_

"Fine." Cooper took a fighting stance once more, and Jules cracked his neck.

" _Think of it like fighting in a titan. You dodge your opponents heavier attacks, block the lighter ones. Not much changes, except move quicker."_

"Got it."

Cooper charged Jules, and threw a punch that would've knocked him out. Jules ducked underneath it, and quickly raised his arms to block a quick jab. He threw his own punch, missing, before twisting underneath Cooper's roundhouse kick. Julius delivered a violent punch to Cooper's ribs, and then winded up a massive kick. Cooper quickly recovered, and caught the kick, twisting the leg so that Julius landed on his stomach. Jules pushed himself upwards, lifting his entire body off of the ground, dodging a leg-sweeper kick from Cooper. He landed, and kicked himself back onto his feet, before quickly dodging a hook from Cooper, and retaliated with another punch, this one to the throat. Cooper throttled backwards, and Julius delivered a head level roundhouse kick, knocking Cooper on his ass, groaning.

" _Where the hell did that come from?!"_

"I don't know, I just treated him like a titan."

Cooper spit up some blood, before getting to his feet. "Next time, don't hit me like you're in one. I think you ruptured my spleen."

"Sorry."

Cooper waved it off, and put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. A dribble of blood came from his mouth, before he stood back up, and wiped it away. "I was not expecting that. Next time you get to fight Gates."

"I'd rather not die."

"How about Laughlin'?"

"I've not been shot by a Wingman yet, and I'd really rather not experience it."

It had become a running joke between the pilots of the _Alexandria_ that if challenged to a fist fight, Laughlin' would simply cap you. While she tried her best to fight the joke, it was one thing she couldn't shoot, and eventually went along with it.

" _With the way you fight, I might just have to shoot you if you challenge me to a fist fight."_

Jules and Cooper looked up at the viewing booth, and Laughlin' waved, smiling.

" _Alright, break for lunch, then we'll bring Bear in_ ," Said Briggs, and Jules' eyes widened.

"Can we just, you know, take a break?"

" _Not if you want to become a better pilot on the ground. You're okay with guns, but what happens when some cheeky prick decides to go in for a neck-snapper? You're fucked. And don't say we have time, because the IMC could re-enter the Freeport system at any time and if that is the case, we'll need your skills, ready or not."_

"Fair enough. I'll be back after lunch then," Cooper said, before turning to Jules. "You know what today is?"

"Taco Tuesday? I don't pay attention to the menu."

"No, its Wednesday. Which means…"

"What?"

"I have lunch with Laughlin'!" Cooper was giddy. Jules gave him an unimpressed half smile.

"Congratulations. For the fourth time this month. It's a shame you can't get anywhere with that."

Cooper just laughed, taking it as a joke, but Jules looked back down at the mat, before standing up. "I'll see you in the cafeteria, Coop."

* * *

Jules sat with the 6-4, eating his slop at an alarming rate. The rest looked on in horror, as Jules mowed down on the food. It was like watching a prowler devour a dead body: Disgusting, but interesting to watch.

"I take it training went well then, Jules?" asked Gates, trying to get him to break away from his food.

"Well, I'm 1 in 54, so it's a start," Said Jules, wiping his mouth. "I have to spar with Bear next."

Bear laughed, scratching his beard. "I really hope to god you're joking. Not even Coop can beat me."

"Briggs ordered it, so it's definitely not a joke."

Bear shook his head, before taking a bite of his food. Davis smirked, and shook his head.

"If you can dodge his attacks, Bear's not really a threat. If you're a Northstar, he's a Scorch: Bulky, slow, but powerful."

"And dangerous on the ground," Said Gates, who turned to Jules. "You'll do fine. I've seen you in a titan. Just treat it like that, and you'll do great."

"That's what Briggs said. Then I nearly killed Cooper."

"Ah well, try not to kill Bear. We kinda like him."

They all laughed, before going silent as they watched Cooper come out of the line, walking towards the Hunters. He sat next to Laughlin', and Ranger and Whip immediately got up, and walked over to where the 6-4 were sitting. The entire group watched them, with no attempt to hide it. Jules was the exception. He looked down at his food, as it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the room.

"Dude knows how to lollygag, doesn't he?" asked Ranger, and Whip nodded.

"It'll be years before he finally asks her out," Said Whip, and Jules scoffed.

"It's still a mystery to me how such a great fighter can be so docile outside of the battle," Said Jules, and Gates shrugged.

"Some of us are like that, others of us aren't. Those of us who went through actual pilot schools, with the mutations and the psychic numbing, there isn't a difference between the person we are on the battlefield and the person we bring home. Him? He's different. And I guess so is she." Gates continued to eat.

"I guess you've got a point. Neither of them have taxing abilities that needed bodily modification for," Said Ranger. His arms had since been replaced, and he finally looked whole, though now he was two tone: His face was tannish-pink, and his arms were obsidian black. "I feel especially bad for the phase shifters."

Jules raised his head from his food. "Why's that?"

"You basically get an entire organ reinforcement to allow you to phase through different realties without your organs giving out the second they enter ours again. Ever seen that video of that chicken inside the Ronin after it phase shifts?"

"That was a chicken? Jesus Christ, I thought they just painted the inside with red glue or some shit and threw feathers on it for a joke or something," Said Gates. Bear gagged.

"Hey, hey, people are trying to eat here," Said Bear, and Davis shook his head.

"Says the guy who I have seen on multiple occasions tear off enemies arms and beat them to death with it." Bear glared at him.

"Yeah, but I do that shit on the battlefield, not at the dinner table."

Jules continued to eat his food, before looking back up at Cooper and Laughlin'. He had apparently told a joke, because she was laughing pretty hard. They interlaced fingers. Jules cringed.

"Oi! Guys!" Bear hissed at the others. They all looked. Jules scoffed.

"I feel like a fucking teenager being so interested in this shit," Said Gates, and Jules shrugged.

"I mean, after a while the monotony of piloting giant robots gets to you. This is like a prime time soap opera."

"A what?" Asked Ranger, and Jules laughed.

"I guess you guys don't really have that type of thing here," Said Jules, smiling. "It's a really bad TV show."

"Ah, yeah, well, you got that right," Ranger said. Even though Jules could feel the chill in Ranger's voice, he figured he was kind of warming up to him now. Maybe it was some type of twisted Stockholm syndrome, or maybe it was just adaptation, but Jules was okay with it, whichever one it may be.

Laughlin' stood up, waving to Cooper, who was still sitting. She dropped her tray off at the bin, and walked away. Cooper looked after her longingly, before turning to the 6-4 and Rangers. His face was filled with horror as he realized they had watched every moment.

"Julius, I swear to god, if you tipped them off…" Cooper started, but Jules put his hands up.

"Brother, we're pilots: We're perceptive by nature. Don't blame me for something I didn't do," Jules said, and Cooper rolled his eyes. This reaction caused the rest of the table to laugh.

"Screw you guys," Said Cooper, and Bear hooted loudly. The entire cafeteria was now watching, some people joining in to busting Cooper's balls. He walked out, red faced with embarrassment.

Julius quickly looked at his watch, before standing up. "I'm gonna try and grab some quick shut eye before training resumes. I'll see you guys later."

Jules quickly left, dropping his tray on they bin, and walking quickly to his room. He stripped off his clothes, and looked in the mirror. After his haircuts, his hair was now a mess of salt-and-pepper, along with bits of white here and there. The black was growing back in on the top again, but Julius had no hopes of it ever returning fully. He jumped into bed, and pulled a mouth-mask from his night stand, attached to what looked like an oxygen tank. He attached the mask to his face, and opened the nozzle a half turn, before breathing in deeply. He passed out instantly.

* * *

"So, what're your plans after the war?" asked Cooper to Laughlin'. They were sitting in the officers lounge, overlooking the hangar, where their titans sat, silent. Laughlin' shrugged, smiling.

"Go and find other work, probably. Piloting is really the only life I've ever known. I can't imagine a life without it."

"No plans to settle at all? Maybe start a family?" asked Cooper, laughing. "You're not a stim user, nor are you a phase shifter or a holo-pilot! You should be using your humanity to your advantage!"

"Ah, well, you see, I kind of enjoy being like this. I'm empowered as pilot: No man will look down upon me for simply being a woman as a pilot, because they know I'm probably more manly than they are. Sure, I still like make-up and other things that are deemed 'girly', but I'm perfectly content being a pilot."

Cooper pursed his lips. "I want to go home and start a family, maybe take over the family farm, if it even exists anymore."

"Oh Coop, I'm sure it does," Said Laughlin', taking a sip of her coffee. "The IMC isn't as destructive as you think."

"But why more work?" asked Cooper, jumping back to Laughlin's decision. "That won't end in a peaceful life."

Laughlin' looked down into her coffee, smirking. "I guess I don't really want a peaceful life. I know there's that joke that no combat pilot has ever died in their bed of old age, but I find that kind of poetic. I don't think pilots should be allowed to do that. We're live by the sword, we should die by it, you know?"

"That's some fucked up poetry you're reading, Kara." Cooper said. "Why not be the first one to change that?"

"Why don't you?" Asked Laughlin', smiling lightly. "I understand you care about me, Cooper, but I'm not the only one who wants to go out like I do. You talk to any of the 6-4, the other Hunters, hell, even Briggs and Jules don't want to die in safety, at least that's what I assume, especially about Jules. I have a feeling that after the end of this war, the market will be flooded with more pilots than ever."

"I knew that about all the others, but Jules? He doesn't seem like that type of guy. Did he tell you that upfront?" asked Cooper, leaning back.

"No, but trust me, Cooper. Aces are especially like that: They're good at what they do, and they'd rather die doing that than in a hospital bed of cancer or something. You got to skip pilot school with the hardasses, but we're kinda like Spartans: A glorious death is better than a meaningless life."

"I guess I never got that lesson from Lastimosa," Cooper said, before looking at his watch. "I'm gonna head to bed, Kara. I'll see you later."

"Goodnight, Cooper." Laughlin' simply took a drink of her coffee. Cooper stood there for a moment, expecting something more, but quickly turned after he realized he was mistaken. As he left, Jules was walking towards the officers lounge.

"Watch out, Laughlin' is in a cynical mood," Said Cooper, punching Jules in the shoulder. Jules shrugged.

"When is she not?"

Jules walked into the lounge, and over to the cigarette vending machine, completely ignoring Laughlin'. She smiled coyly. "What's wrong, Carper?"

"Don't call me that, _Kara_ ," Said Jules, looking back at her. She rolled her eyes, before sighing.

"You're upset about something, aren't you?"

"Well, for one, we ran out of my favorite cigarettes on this damn ship today, so now I'm stuck with the second class cigarettes," Said Jules. Laughlin' raised an eyebrow.

"Is it really that bad?"

"Imagine you couldn't drink your brand of coffee."

"Point taken, that would suck majorly."

"And two, I don't see why you're leading the guy on."

Laughlin' was caught off guard, looking at Jules, slightly offended. "I don't know what you mean."

Jules pursed his lips, nodding, before turning back to the machine. He grabbed his pack out of the machine, and quickly tore it open, before lighting a cigarette. "You know what I mean, Valentina. The poor guy is head over heels for you."

"And what, you don't think I'm head over heels for him?" asked Laughlin' leaning next to the machine.

"I _know_ you aren't. Most of the guys and gals in the pilot program have not had the experience of a relationship outside of the brotherhood of battle, and their bond with their titan, so they can't see it. However, I have had the bad luck of having to deal with love, and I know what being led on looks like."

Laughlin' looked offended. "Are you saying I'm leading Cooper on?"

"That is literally what I said like three sentences ago."

"No reason to get snooty about it," Laughlin' said, before sighing. "I just don't see anything in him."

"Then tell him that," Jules said, before taking a drag off of his cigarette. "You're the only one capable of telling him that without him telling you to fuck off and stop messing with him."

"You've tried to tell him that?"

"Oh lord have I tried." Jules laughed. "but that is not the point here. Point is you've gotta tell him."

"I've been dropping hints…"

"Oh for fucks sakes that doesn't work with men!"

"Why not?"

"Because the brain we think with when we're around people we're sexually attracted to doesn't have half the brain power as the one in our actual head."

Laughlin' simply pursed her lips. "Why are you so heated about this? Why don't you just let it sit?"

Jules simply looked at her, and then shook his head. "I care about Cooper, and I care about you. But I also care about the health of the team, and having a shitty relationship where one person doesn't care about the other is a recipe for destruction. Besides, isn't there a clause that says you can't be in a relationship with one of your teammates?"

"Maybe in the IMC, but honestly, that doesn't explain why you've gotten so involved in it. Have you talked to Cooper about it?"

"Again, I just said that," Said Jules, sitting down on the stool next to the cigarette vending machine. "It's just not healthy for the work environment."

"Our work environment is in giant machines, I don't think this is that bad," Said Laughlin', before walking over to the coffee machine. "I think you have a personal thing in this."

Jules stopped mid drag in his cigarette, before looking at Laughlin'. "What makes you think that?"

"I think you're jealous," said Laughlin' teasingly. "You don't want Cooper to have me, because you want me."

Jules frowned. "I've heard lines of bullshit in my day, but man, that just might take the fucking cake."

"I was only joking."

"You were testing the waters, to see if I would break," Jules said, looking rather unimpressed. "Again, I know how women work, to a point."

"Well, you're right on that point, but honestly, I think that you are jealous," Said Laughlin', filling up her cup of coffee. "You aren't the only one who notices things. I see the way you act when I'm with Cooper. You don't like it, obviously."

"Because he's my friend. You've got my intentions all wrong. I'm not here to try to steer you away from him to me, because honestly, I've got no interest in any type of relationship other than friendship. Cooper doesn't deserve to be hurt."

Laughlin' looked at Jules for a moment, before looking down. "Is that so? What made you so salty about relationships?"

"You know why, Valentina."

Laughlin' went red with embarrassment. She had completely forgot the exact moment that had sent Jules on his trip to becoming a pilot. She had to turn the conversation around quick. "I would've expected you to appreciate that happening to you, considering that you became a pilot out of it."

"That's implying that I never wanted a real, peaceful life."

Laughlin' quizzically looked at Jules. "What do you mean?"

"It's not like I don't enjoy being a pilot, but at the same time, I kinda regret not keeping on the path I was on. There could have been so much more for me in that life than there is in this one." Jules took another drag of his cigarette. "I could've had a family, a life that didn't involve having to get mutations or kill others. A normal life."

Laughlin' was caught so off guard by this information that her coffee cup overflowed, burning her hand. " _Motherfucker!"_

Jules just shook his head. "I'm going to try and get some sleep. Please, just don't lead him on, okay? He doesn't deserve it." He stood up, and walked towards the door.

"Oh, okay." Laughlin' watched as he left, rubbing her hand with her cloth. How could a pilot like Jules want a normal life? Every other pilot didn't want one, so why did he? She sighed, and took a sip of her coffee, before looking out at the hangar, watching as the titans moved around freely, mingling with one another. It was always fun to watch them, as even though they were AI, they had some sense of free will and feelings. They would often try and one up one another with their stories of their pilots, which would end up in a vicious cycle of the same stories being told over and over again. However, one titan kept in its holder. Laughlin' squinted her eyes to see DD simply sitting, even though he was turned on. Perhaps the other titans had not yet accepted him, even though he was still in his Ion chassis. Laughlin' felt a pang of sadness for the poor robot, before turning back to the door.

She emptied her cup into the sink, and walked out of the lounge, towards her room. She passed Jules room, and heard a soft-whirring, as well as labored breathing. She had heard it almost every time she went past his room, but she never bothered to check on him, she just assumed that he was sleeping with a machine on. She silently opened the door into the pitch black room, to see Jules laying on his bed, already asleep. He had a mask on his face, and his chest was raising erratically, his lungs apparently not enjoying their current treatment. Then she noticed the rest of his body: Certain parts of his body were shifting in and out of reality, breaking away from the rest of his body. Laughlin' tried her best not to gag, as she watched the fragments of his body continually get smaller, until it only seemed like his fingers and toes were the only things shifting. The machine attached to Jules' face beeped softly, and the mask detached, as the unconscious Jules took a deep breath of deep air. It was then Laughlin' noticed the black lines that had traced all over Jules' body. She realized they were his veins, and while the blackness was fading, it looked almost like he was poisoned.

She quietly closed the door, horrified of what she had just saw. She quickly returned to her room, where she threw herself on her bed, pushing herself underneath the covers, eyes wide open. Maybe it was the coffee, maybe it was the conversation, maybe it was watching Jules' nightly routine to fall asleep, but that night, Laughlin' didn't get any sleep at all.

Which was terrible for her, because a body should be well rested for battle.


	9. Chapter 9: Unto Hell

"So, my question is, if the IMC has jump technology, why haven't they gotten reinforcements earlier?" asked Gates, and Jules laughed, putting his cigarette out in the ash tray in front of him.

"Jump tech and regular flight tech use two different types of fuel. One uses a nuclear fission process used by Hammonium, a very rare element. While it only needs a tiny bit to power the engines to jump millions of light years, it uses a lot of it if its jumping at high speeds, as well as far distances. As such, when you guys destroyed demeter, most of the Hammonium in the system went up in flames, which meant that the IMC had two options: Either jump as far as they could towards the core regions, and use regular thrusters the rest of the way, or jump the entire way back to the core regions, just at a slower speed. They chose the first option, which meant they'd still have to fly for about three to four years after they finished jumping."

"Why can we jump so easily with the drop ships, then?" asked Bear, and Jules made a pinching motion.

"From what I understand, you can power a drop-ships jump drive for a life time on such a tiny amount of Hammonium that it's little more than a grain of salt," Said Jules, before leaning back. "Which is nice, because I doubt that we can afford much more than that."

"Then how much do they put into phase shifters?" asked Davis, and Jules shrugged.

"Not sure, didn't delve too much into the technology they were putting into us."

The 6-4 and Jules sat at a breakfast table, eating what looked like refried oatmeal, if such a thing existed. While the 6-4 were great pilots, they didn't bother to learn the technical part of the job: They knew how their own abilities, titans, and weapons worked, but didn't care for much else. Since phase shifter pilots were far and few between, due to the dangerous surgeries that went along with it, they had decided to interrogate Jules on his knowledge. Sadly, it seemed he didn't know much more than they did, other than what they taught him in IMC school. Briggs walked in, smiling.

"Glad to see my pilots up an at 'em this early. What woke you guys up?" asked Briggs, and the 6-4 groaned.

"Training." They droned, and Gates laughed.

"Gotta keep your mind sharp in case of an attack."

"My mind is about as sharp as a dull spoon right now, Gates," Davis said.

"You'll wake up later."

Jules shrugged. "I guess I just woke up early."

"Well, good, because we've got more training today. As soon as Cooper finally comes to, we're going to continue hand to hand combat."

Jules nodded, before standing up, and brushing off his jumpsuit, and started towards the door, before Bear called after him. "What about the cigarettes?"

"What?" asked Jules, and Bear shrugged.

"How can you afford to smoke, as a pilot?"

"I've got about ten years left in this body, maybe. As a phase shifter, my body wears itself out by recreating itself every time I phase. I figure, hell, if I'm going to die young, I might as well enjoy myself."

The group got quiet, and Briggs nodded. "It's a shame, but it's true. Hopefully you can find a sponsor to regenerate your body, or even upload you."

"I probably can figure something out. I'm not too worried, I've got no plans on passing onto the next life just yet," Jules said, smiling.

Suddenly, the ship rocked. Jules looked out the window, and immediately ran over to it.

"Shit! IMC remnant fleet!" shouted Jules, and the rest of the group ran over to the window. Sure enough, the _Andromeda_ had re-entered the system, floating above the planet of Berithan, a massive, lava covered planet colonized for one reason: Iron.

"Why would they attack that first?" asked Briggs, and Jules shook his head.

"FOB back into the Freeport system, maybe?" Jules said, but then turned. "Whatever the reason may be, we need to get down there."

"Copy that, I'll send out an alert."

Jules and the 6-4 sprinted to their rooms, immediately suiting up. They got their gear together, and all quickly ran to the hangar, where the rest of the pilots were standing. However, the titans were not ready.

"Oh for fucks sakes!" shouted Davis, and Jules shook his head.

"We're sitting ducks out there without our titans. We need their support," Said Jules, and Briggs shook her head.

"That's a negative. You're gonna have to deploy on foot. The rest of the IMC fleet is on its way to support the repulsion of the attack, but you're the primary reaction force."

"Wait, just us?" Bear asked. Jules looked around. It was well known that the _Alexandria_ didn't have an expeditionary force at its finger tips: It was meant as a pilot support vessel, not as an attack ship. There would be a handful of pilots going down into that hell, without titans, to repulse an entire support platform invasion. Odds were slim.

"Just you."

"That's a terrible idea, ma'am," Said Jules. "We're dead as soon as we hit the ground if that's the case. It would be better to wait for the rest of the 9th fleet, to minimize casualties."

"It'll be a bit. They're still getting a fix and you know how slow transmissions go through open space. We need a force on the ground now."

Jules looked at the other pilots, before turning back to Briggs. "How long until the titans are ready?"

"An hour or two."

"Look, we don't even have to engage when we hit the ground. We can just recon the area, see if we can get a beat on the enemy, try and figure out a plan of attack," Laughlin' had just come out of the double doors. "It might give us a tactical advantage if we do some recon."

"Good point, Laughlin'," Briggs said, nodding in her direction. "We just need some boots on the ground to see what their intentions are."

"To take over the planet, obviously," Said Ranger. "We can expect a lot of dead civilians in a bit." He glared at Jules.

"No civilians here, Ranger. Stop trying to get pissy at Jules." Briggs glared at Ranger.

"Fuck, okay." Jules shook his head. "Drop point?"

A massive hologram screen popped up in front of Briggs. "So far, the _Andromeda_ is on a collision course with _Mons Altisinia_ , the largest mountain on the planet. It'll likely be setting down on the plains below, so we'll drop you just outside of their predicted landing zone. From there, you'll have to pave your own path."

The group looked at one another, and nodded. The map showed a live feed of the planet, thanks to the thousands of satellites the IMC had put up when they had first entered the Frontier all those years ago. The militia had gotten around to hacking them and using them as their own, but when the IMC returned, they continued to use it. It was sort of like a resource that both sides had to use, so neither could destroy them. _Mons Altisinia_ was a giant volcano that had been erupting non-stop since the IMC had found the planet, and since it was a generally new planet, its atmosphere was probably not safe to breathe. The pilots would have to rely on their own suit's life support if they were going to go down there.

"Shit is never easy, is it?" Asked Ranger, and the group looked at him angrily.

"You don't even have lungs, you pile of bolts," Said Gates, and Ranger shrugged.

"I also didn't have arms for about 2 weeks. I couldn't complain then either, could I?"

Gates huffed angrily, and Cooper shuddered. "What about those of us who don't wear full environmental safe suits?"

"Either get one, or take good care not to get burned," Said Briggs, and Jules took a closer look at the hologram.

"Does that fucking say -10 degrees? As in negative ten degrees Celsius?" asked Jules, and Briggs nodded.

"Just because a planet is exploding, does not mean it is hot. It's about the third farthest planet from this system's sun, so yeah, its going to be a tad bit cold. Probably might be smart to wear some long sleeves."

They groaned, and Briggs shook her head. "You're fighting machines, and you're complaining about the cold?"

"We fight the IMC, not inclement weather!" shouted Bear, and Briggs shook her head.

"Whatever you fight, you need to get down there, now. That planet is going to be crawling with IMC and the last thing we need is the freeport dealing with these idiots again."

The pilots saluted, and ran to the drop pods. The titans were already being prepped for titanfall by the marvins, but the drop pods were ready. Jules jumped into one with Cooper, Whip, Laughlin', and Ranger, while the 6-4 jumped into their own. As soon as the pilots were buckled in, they were moved to the lower deck, which was not under life support, and were shot out of the bottom.

Jules stomach rose into his throat as they fell. He always felt like the glass was going to give out in front of him whenever he dropped in a pod, and the pressure building up along with the rattling was thrashing him about quite a bit.

"Carper, you good?" asked Cooper, and Jules just gave him a thumbs up, pulling his helmet down. He attached the oxygen tube to the back of his helmet, and the HUD pulsed red.

" _Oxygen translator engaged."_

The other pilots did the same, as the dropped closer and closer to the ground. The punched through the atmosphere, rattling the pilots about. In front of Jules' vision was the 6-4 drop ship, which was flying way off course. It must have hit the atmosphere at a bad angle, because it was veering off towards the top of the volcano, as opposed towards the base. Jules was about to say something, until the punched into the darkness.

"Damn, these clouds are thick!" shouted Whip, and Ranger shook his head, his eyes glowing in the darkness.

"These aren't clouds. This is ash."

The finally ripped through the ash layer, and into something that could only be described as hell. Fires filled the pilots' vision as they looked around them. Massive, obsidian spires protruded from the ground, looking as if a tornado had come along and whisked them up into the air, and flash cooled them. The drop pod finally hit the ground, and the group jumped out into the freezing air, looking around.

"Why the hell would the IMC drop here?" asked Cooper, and Jules shuddered.

"I think we're the only ones crazy enough to come after them at this point. This planet is so inhospitable that it serves no purpose other than to just burn, I guess," Jules said, slapping the action on his R201. "How long we got unti-"

Suddenly, the _Andromeda_ punched through the sky, breaking the ash line and letting some of the sun in. It quickly landed, pushing ash and sut up into the sky, an buffeting the flames on the side of the mountain. Jules had never really realized how big the _Andromeda_ was, until he looked at it now. It was the size of a large city, and even now, was already deploying dropships, titans, and infantry. While it was easily 10 or so miles away, it was taking up most of Jules vision.

"Jules, please tell me that thing has another nuclear core we can blow up?" Said Laughlin', and Jules shook his head.

"No clue."

"Alright, we're gonna have to move in on it, do some recon, try and find out what they're doing," Said Ranger, before looking at the pilots. "Jules, you're with me. The rest of you, try and find where the 6-4 landed."

Jules nodded, putting his rifle over his shoulder. The other three sprinted off towards the direction that the 6-4 had fallen. Ranger took off at a brisk jog up the side of the mountain, and Jules followed. He didn't see why Ranger was going that way, but he shrugged it off: A higher position would provide a tactical advantage, and he was sure the IMC would be looking for them where they had landed, not where they would be. They never thought ahead like that.

Then again, neither did Jules.

"Alright everybody, listen up! We've got a lot of dosh riding on this contract, and I'd rather not fuck it up, okay!" shouted Blisk, looking over the Apex Predators. "This is our first mission since the loss of our comrades, so we're out for blood. You see militia, you kill militia, plain and simple as that. We are here as muscle, so don't go out galivanting with the IMC on their stupid search mission."

The recruits nodded, and moved towards their titans. General Marder quickly walked up to Blisk, and patted him on the shoulder.

"I thank you for your help on this mission, Kuben. I know the last time we worked together didn't end too well, but I am willing to let bygones be bygones, and move on," Said Marder, and Blisk nodded, lighting a cigar.

"Yeah, well, I don't care. So long as the pay is good."

"I understand, and I apologize for not letting you in on the bigger picture this time around, but last time due to the negligence of your mercenaries, that pilot ruined all of our plans," Said Marder, and Blisk nodded, puffing on his cigar.

"Yeah well, it wasn't in the contract to protect the fold weapon, just to get it where it needed to be, eh? Either way, I don't want any part in your stupid super weapon search. It's probably a lost cause and I don't need any more of my guys getting killed."

Marder nodded, and walked towards the exit of the hangar, before pausing for a moment. "Oh, by the way, we have good information that the man who killed your comrades is on the planet. Our agent is on the ground with pilots that were deployed as a quick reaction force, no titans. If you want revenge, I suggest you get it soon."

Blisk paused for a moment, and smiled. "Well, you know me, I like to break even. Is there a price on his head?"

"Would putting one on it give you more incentive?"

"I believe it would, General."

"Fine. 40,000 credits for the head of one Julius Carper."

Blisk grinned. He knew he would have his chance to get back at Carper. It was almost the only thing he could think about for the past month. No one shoots Kuben Blisk and lives to tell the tale. No one.

"Oh yes, and Jack Cooper also seems to be on the planet. I suggest you eliminate him as well. The price on him is already quite high."

"Ah, two targets, eh? Well, hopefully they'll be together…"

"This fucking weather is killing me," Said Jules, as he trudged up the mountain side, his boots sliding in the ashen sand.

"Get uploaded, its easier."

"I kinda like being human, its pretty nice, actually," Jules said, before walking over to a glowing rock. He put his hands around it to warm up, and Ranger laughed.

"Wouldn't know, I never was human."

Jules looked back at him, and raised an eyebrow, even though Ranger couldn't see it through his pulse-blade helmet. "You weren't?"

"I was uploaded before I was even born. A human consciousness inside a little robot body. You see, I had a very odd "childhood". I wasn't conceived naturally, I'm a clone of a rather famous pilot who fought in the titan wars." Ranger said, before looking at the _Andromeda_ , deploying its troops en masse. "However, it turned out that clone bodies cannot hold all the memory of a fully grown human. I would've been a husk. So, instead of letting me be a husk, I was dual uploaded with the memories of the original copy, and myself."

Jules just stared at him. "You're shitting me."

"Nope. I was the only clone, as now that his consciousness is uploaded into a host, along with a younger mind, he had no need for more. However, he didn't expect his own mind to expire while inside the body, so while I inherited all of his skills and piloting expertise, I am completely in control of my simulacrum chassis."

"But, your face is human…"

"The skin surrounding the skull is organic, yes, however, it is simply an advanced simulacrum model which allows me to seem human. The rest of my body was once covered, but due to the dangerous reality of our job, it became far too costly to repair the skin except upon my face, because honestly, if you could see what was behind it, you'd scream and run."

"Isn't that a good thing in warfare?" scoffed Jules, and Ranger laughed a bit.

"Not so good when you've actually got people who are around you all the time."

Jules nodded, and looked up, watching as dozens of dropships circled their position, before turning on their spotlights. "Fuck, we've been made, dropship must've spotted the runaway sand."

"Scatter?" asked Ranger, and Jules looked at him.

"You're the one whose supposed to be the clone of a master pilot, I'm only an ace."

"Scatter."

The two took off in opposite directions, as bullets chased them. Ranger quickly cloaked, and disappeared towards the _Andromeda_. Jules quickly dodged and dove around the bullets, guessing their next move. He didn't want to lead them in one direction for too long, but he needed to make some headway to somewhere they'd have to deploy ground units to take him out.

He spotted a crag in one of the giant obsidian spires pushing out of the ground, and phase shifted, making his way to the opening. He jumped in, just as he reentered reality, sliding into the crevasse. He hit an object about two feet from the wall, before getting an "oof" from whatever it was. The object quickly decloaked to reveal Ranger pointing a P2016 at Jules' head.

"Ranger?"

"I about blew your goddamn brains out, Jules. Did you follow me? I said scatter!"

"No, I just went to somewhere they'd have to use ground units to engage me."

"Ah, okay, fair enough."

"How did you get back here so fast?"

"Stim and Cloaking. You'd be surprised what I can do in this chassis."

"Fair enough."

Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a titan whirring up its splitter rifle filled the air. Jules quickly phased out, and jumped out of the crag, before re-entering reality, barely a meter behind the giant mech. He quickly jumped on the back of the titan, and ripped out its battery, chucking it into the air. Ranger dodged under it, placing two satchel charges on either leg, and detonated it. Jules jumped off, grabbing the battery, and throwing it back at the titan, landing next to it. The pilot was about to jump out, when Ranger levelled his handgun, and fired, rupturing the battery, causing it to explode. The side of the titan, as well as its pilot, was vaporized.

"You should have kept that for one of the dropships."

"I can't throw that fucking high," Said Jules, and Ranger shrugged.

"I can."

Suddenly, grunts ziplined, and Jules looked at Ranger. "You think you can throw me that high?"

"Sure, why?"

"I got AP rounds in the my R201," Jules said, before looking at the dropship. "We got about ten seconds so-"

Ranger dug his fingers under Jules' feet, and lifted him into the air, using one arm to throw him. Jules flew through the air, passing right by the dropships cockpit. He fired wildly, killing the dropship pilots, before landing face first into the ash.

The dropship spun in the air, flinging grunts out of the sides left and right, slowly making its way over to Ranger, who was combating another group of grunts who had been deployed earlier. Jules got to his feet, and sprinted towards Ranger, as the dropship spun closer and closer.

"Ranger! Get out of the way!" shouted Jules, and Ranger looked over at the giant dropship spinning towards him. He activated his stim, and jumped towards Jules, but was too late. The tail of the dropship slapped him, and threw him against the giant obsidian spire, crumpling against the wall, leaving behind a trail of white liquid as he fell off.

"Fuck!" shouted Jules, loading a new magazine into his R201, and engaging the remaining grunts. One by one, they fell, but finally he ran out of ammo, while he was out in the open.

He was surrounded by three grunts, all weapons raised, glaring at Jules. "Drop it you fuckin' traitor!"

Jules dropped the gun, shrugging, before phase shifting. The grunts looked around wildly, before Jules popped up behind one, drawing the grunts handgun, and shooting two of them in the back of the head. The other grunt turned around, and slapped the gun away, before delivering a vicious blow to Jules' lower thigh. Jules collapsed, before rolling out of the way of a curb stomp. He jumped to his feet, and quickly parried a punch from the grunt, snapping his arm the wrong day. The grunt recoiled, screaming, before Jules drew his pulse blade, and shoved it into the grunt's ribcage. The grunt's skeleton was highlighted on Jules' HUD, and quickly dispersed as he pulled the knife out, and kicked over the grunt's body. Jules holstered his knife, quickly picked up his R201, and ran over to Ranger.

"Ranger! You good?"

"I just got launched at a giant obsidian spire by a fucking dropship, would you be good?" asked Ranger, white liquid coming out of his mouth.

"Good poi-"

Two gunshots reported into the air, and Jules dropped to his knees. He quickly tried to turn, but a third gunshot hit him, and he hit the floor, wheezing.

"Oi, pilot! You should really take care to watch your surroundings!" shouted a voice from behind him. Jules groaned, and got to his feet, only to get shot a fourth time through the leg. Jules shouted in pain, dropping to his knees.

"Yeah, now you know how it feels, 'eh?" asked the voice, before placing a boot on Jules' back. "You left me with some nasty scars last time we met, I only thought it was right to return the favor, though you wear a heavy enough flak jacket that I don't think the first three penetrated.

Jules pushed off the ground, drawing his blade, and turning. Blisk stood there in a full IMC environmental suit, and punched him in the throat, before firing the rest of the magazine of his P2016 into Jules' midsection. None of the bullets penetrated, but they knocked Jules over, blowing the breath out of his chest. Jules tried to get to his feet, but was put into a headlock by Blisk.

"Ah, how the tables have turned, pilot!" shouted Blisk, gripping down on Jules' throat. Jules gasped for air, trying to move out of the headlock, but it was no use. Suddenly, Jules phase shifted, and moved out of the grip, before re-materializing above Blisk, delivering a quick swipe at Blisk's private areas. He yelped, and Jules jumped for the final blow, before he suddenly was being pulled back. He flew backwards, and he contorted himself so that he could face his attacker. He turned just in time for a boot to shatter his visor, knocking him backwards. The air flew out of his helmet, as he once again gasped for air.

"Shite, get him on a ship, now!" shouted Blisk, before pulling off Jules' helmet, and replacing it with a respirator. Jules tried to get to his feet, before another grappling hook dug into his leg, slicing the muscle and skin apart. He screamed out in pain, before Blisk stomped on his head, knocking him out.

"Good work, I didn't realize IMC agents were actually reliable," Said Blisk, looking at the other pilot.

"I'm not an IMC asset, I'm a mercenary," said a slightly accented, female voice. "I work for the highest bidder."

"What do you want done with this one?" Asked Blisk, pointing at Ranger, who was dragging himself away, yelling at deaf ears for backup.

The other pilot, donned in an all black uniform with a single red circle on her helmet, raised her wingman, and fired all six cylinders into Ranger, the final one tearing his head in two. The simulacrum pilot's body shut down, and the pilot holstered her wingman.

"He's been nothing but trouble to me, even since the day I met him. Let's go, I want my payday."

"Right, well, if you're a mercenary, why don't you come and work with me, eh? You obviously know what you're doing," Said Blisk, and the other pilot shook her head.

"Hanako Ricci doesn't work for anyone."

"Fair enough. Well…" Blisk looked down at his mini-pad. "The others are on board the Andromeda already, including one Jack Cooper, a Kara Valentina, also known as "Laughlin'", but wasn't there a third one that dropped with them?"

"That was me," Said Whip, smiling behind her helmet. "And they're all mine."

"Oi, that wasn't the deal."

"If not for me, Jules' would have killed you. I think it's my bounty to claim," Said Whip, picking Jules up by his flak jacket.

"We'll deal with this on the ship. He needs medical attention."

"Fine. We'll see what General Marder has to say about this, then."

Blisk smiled to himself, and looked at Whip. "Yes, we will."

"Wait, what?" asked Briggs over the comm, looking down. "Whip is working with Blisk?"

" _It seems that way. She just killed Ranger and grabbed Julius, and he didn't go down easy, which means he's still with us. We didn't see what happened to Jack and Laughlin', but it would be safe to assume they're compromised or dead."_

"Fuck! Okay, well, we've got another pilot ship on standby, so you'll be getting support. Remember the mission. If they're compromised, there's no point trying to recover them, because you'll just get yourself killed," Said Briggs. "Find out where the weapon is, make sure the IMC can't recover it or destroy it, and make sure we get it back on the Alexandria in one piece."

" _Copy that, Gates out_."

Briggs put the comm down, and sighed, before looking at another group of pilots, wearing Marauder Corp. Gear. "Alright boys, you are on site after this. We need you to drop, and make sure the 6-4 get the weapon, and they secure it."

A single simulacrum pilot, wearing a scarf and using a spectre helmet nodded. " _And what do we after the 6-4 have secured it?"_

"Extract them. The 6-4 are part of us, no need for asset termination on this one John," Said Briggs. The simulacrum nodded, and cracked his robotic knuckles.

"Then let's get it done."


	10. Chapter 10: I Am The Hunter

Laughlin' sat in the dropship, surrounded by multiple IMC guards, weapons trained at her. They had expected her to be loudmouthed and angry, as most militia pilots were, but she was dead quiet. Beneath her helmet, Laughlin's eyes were closed, her eyebrows knotted in anger. How could Whip betray them like that? They had fought together for so many battles, just to be turned on? Loyalty obviously meant nothing to the former Hunter member. While she had been smart enough to surrender, Jack had had his arm broken in a fist fight with Whip.

"Hey, pilot! How's it feel to be betrayed?" asked one of the IMC soldiers cackling.

"Not the first time."

"That should say something then, eh? You bastard pirates are nothing but scum in the way of what is rightfully the core region's."

"Do you always give exposition to prisoners? Or are you just assuming that I don't know the reason why I'm fighting?"

The IMC grunt shut up. The dropship quickly landed, and the two pilots were ushered out. Another dropship had landed not too far inside the _Andromeda's_ hangar. Only one pilot came out of this one, on a stretched. It was Jules. Hopefully Ranger had escaped.

Behind Jules was Whip and Blisk, talking to one another as if they were old friends. They undid their masks, and looked straight at Laughlin' and Jack.

"Where's Ranger?" asked Laughlin', and Whip laughed loudly.

"I killed him. I shot him through his fucking sim-head. I couldn't stand the bastard," Said Whip, before looking at her gun. "And I plan on making sure you share the same fate."

"Fuck you, the Militia will have you torn in half. They still have your titan!"

"I have the memory core, bitch. The IMC pays better, always have, always will. I don't care about this fight, only the money it pays," Said Whip, smiling. "Have fun inside the Andromeda, Laughlin'. I'm off to make sure the 6-4 bite the bullet."

Whip put her helmet back on, and walked back onto the drop ship, and Laughlin' grit her teeth. She was the only one of the hunters left.

"Send Jules and Cooper off to the med bay. I want to have a word with this one," Said Blisk, and the IMC hauled the two pilots towards the innards of the _Andromeda_. Blisk approached Laughlin' silently, before undoing her cuffs.

"Name's Kuben Blisk," Blisk said, holding out a hand. "Good to see you back, Pilot."

"Wait, wha-"

Blisk took her hand, and shook it violently. " _Follow my lead, eh? I've got a proposition_."

Laughlin' nodded, and pulled off her helmet. "Good to see you, sir."

"Walk with me, yeah? We'll negotiate your contract."

Laughlin' nodded, and the two set off towards the bridge of the ship. Laughlin' was nervous. She knew what type of man Blisk was, but he hadn't dug his knife into Laughlin's chest yet, so maybe something would come of this.

"I heard that you're close with Whip, yes? Part of the same merc group?" asked Blisk, walking briskly.

"Was."

"Right, well, I have an idea that could get you out of this pickle that you seem to be in," Said Blisk, smiling. "I'll give you a quarter of the dosh I'm getting for those two idiots in the med-bay, if you come under my wing, and kill that bitch of a pilot."

Laughlin' stopped. One minute she was fighting alongside Whip and against Blisk, and now he was asking for things to be changed. She expected the price on Jules and Cooper's head to be quite high, and a quarter of that would set her up for life. "Why are you offering me this."

"You're not my enemy…uh.."

"Laughlin'."

"Laughlin'. You're not my enemy. You and I are of the same breed: Mercenaries. This isn't our war, and while you may have a bit of a grudge against the IMC, you still fight in it because it makes you money, yeh? Now that your little group of soldiers has been torn apart, I'm giving you the option to make sure you don't end up in a brig for the rest of your life."

"What's the price on Cooper and Jules' heads?"

"40,000 for Julius Carper, 100,000 for Jack Cooper. Dead or Alive."

"I don't want a quarter. I want them alive."

Blisk raised an eyebrow. "Why, so they can get out on the battlefield and fight again? I don't think so."

"I didn't say out in the field. I just don't want them to be executed."

"I suppose the militia is good at jailbreaks. Fine, they'll stay alive, for now. As soon as you get rid of Whip, I'll get my money, and everything will be lekker, yeh?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Good, now here's your cover story. You were a deep cover Apex Predator asset working alongside Whip as IMC splinter agents. However, because Whip killed Ranger, who you grew close to, you kill her, as she is also working for the militia full time now. Sounds good?"

"Whatever."

"That's what I like to hear. Your weapons and gear are still on the dropship, I suppose. I'll give the go ahead to the grunts to let you get out of here, as you're now my 'asset', eh?"

"Whatever."

"Go get 'em then. Also, connect to my radio comm, eh? It's 22-087."

Laughlin' quickly input the numbers into her helmet radio, and it connected almost immediately. " _Good feed?"_

"Good feed." Laughlin' walked towards the dropship, Blisk in tow.

"Alright, which one of you idiots forgot she was one of my soldiers, eh?" asked Blisk, and the grunts shrugged.

"That other pilot was the one who detained her, sir."

"Shut the fuck up!" shouted Blisk, before shaking his head. "Follow that other dropship that just left, and make sure that you NEVER try and detain my pilot again!"

"Yes sir!" shouted the grunts, before piling onto the ship. Laughlin' followed, grabbing her G2 off the wall, and a P2016 from one of the grunts. She then watched as they lifted off, flying into the planets atmosphere. Her helmet suctioned tight, and they sped off after the other dropship.

It seemed almost instant before the ship touched down, and Laughlin' hopped off, racking the bolt on her rifle. She looked at the ground, and sighed, before activating her tactical ability, causing the boosters on her legs and shoulders to activate. She looked around, before hearing gunfire. She quickly boosted into the air, and dashed through, her reinforced jump kit allowing her to boost around in mid air. She quickly crested a small hill, where she saw where the gunfight was happening. She thought it would be the 6-4 and Whip, but it wasn't.

Instead, there was a phase-shift simulacrum fighting an entire squad of grunts, and Whip at the same time.

"Holy shit, talk about an ace on the ground. It's either that, or he's self aware and doesn't give a shit if he dies," Said Laughlin' to herself.

He might have been both, with the way he moved. He would wall run, phase shift, drop grenades as he reentered reality, then phase shifted again. Within moments, most of the grunts were dead. He came out of the phase shift, and clotheslined a grunt, and knocked him over, then pile drived him. Whip fired at him with her wingman, but couldn't hit her mark. It wasn't often Whip had problems with other pilots, but she supposed this was one of those times. Suddenly, Whip looked up, and grappled to an adjacent ledge from where Laughlin' was.

Laughlin' quickly boosted towards Whip, and delivered a full fledged kick to Whip's spine. If it wasn't for her reinforced spine, Whip would have cracked in half. She went flying through the air, before grapple hooking to the sim, and delivering a kick to his mid section. He went flying, and hit the ground with a thud. Laughlin' assumed that he had shut down, until she saw his LED still on. Whip hit the ground, and reloaded her wingman elite, and fired at Laughlin' who was boosting through the air, firing her G2 wildly at her former comrade. They both ran out of ammo, and Laughlin' landed about 20 feet away from Whip. They stared at one another, circling one another. The sim-pilot got to his feet, and nodded at Laughlin', who returned the nod.

"Not sure how you escaped the IMC, but at least now I get the chance to kill you myself," Said Whip, cracking her neck. "Do you even know what it was like, living in your shadow?"

"Oh for fucks sakes, the only reason Ranger liked me more is because I wasn't an insufferable rich brat."

"Fuck you! I've always been the better pilot, always will be! And I'll prove it right now!" shouted Whip, before drawing her backup pistol, and leveling it at Laughlin's head. She put pressure on the trigger, and the gun reported.

Then it all went white.

Julius sat up, his leg fully repaired. Cooper's arm had been rebroken and sealed, making it fully healed. They were chained to their beds, silent, as the IMC doctors filled out some papers.

"Well, this sucks."

"Cooper, please, shut up."

"Sorry."

Julius sighed lightly, before Blisk walked in, swinging a knife inbetween his fingers. "Hello boys, how are things?"

"Fuck off."

"Hey mate, it was just a friendly question."

"If I ever get out of these cuffs, I'm going to snap your neck," Cooper said, and Blisk sighed.

"Pity, you'd make such a great soldier under my wing. Laughlin' has already done so, though it was to save your hides."

"What?!" shouted Julius, lunging forward. Blisk looked back at the doctors, who quickly left the room. Blisk simply smiled at Julius.

"I made her an offer. She's off killing Whip, and in return, you boys are allowed to live. I still get my dosh, eh?"

"I'd rather be executed than imprisoned," said Cooper, and Blisk smiled.

"Who said anything about prison? As soon as I get my money, Marder is probably going to wipe your mind, put your consciousness into a sim-body, and you'll fight for him. That is, unless you want to hear my offer."

"Last time I took your offer, I ended up killing civilians," Said Jules, and Blisk nodded, pursing his lips.

"Aye, that's the truth. And I took two bullets to the chest, and lost all my best pilots. Which is why I'm reluctant to give you my offer," Said Blisk, before shaking his head. "But lets put the past behind us. The only reason both of you are in one piece is because I put a little cash in the boys in the white coats pockets'."

"Why?"

"You're no good to anyone dead, or imprisoned for that matter. Excellent pilots such as yourself should not be wasted for fighting for what you believe in. Sure, I can't simply release you into the wild, but I can make a deal with Marder that would put you under my employment."

"Abso-fucking-lutely not," Jules said, and Blisk shrugged, walking towards the exit.

"Enjoy your time as a sim-pilot then," Said Blisk, and Cooper gritted his teeth.

"Wait! Wait… let us think on it. I need to have a talk with Julius, before we give you a final answer," Cooper said, and Blisk smiled.

"I'll be back in an hour, then," Said Blisk, walking out. "Have a good talk, boys. I hope you see things my way, yeh?"

Julius turned back to Cooper, glaring at him. "You can't be serious."

"No, I'm not. But we need to stall. I activated my S.O.S. beacon when I was fighting Whip, so every other pilot on the ground knows our position. We just need to wait until they get here."

"Coop, you do realize that no one is coming, right? It would be a suicide mission to take on the Andromeda, pilot or not. Even if we had an army, this place's defenses would tear them to shreds. Only way we would get out is if we had someone on the…" Julius faltered for a moment.

"On the what?"

"On the inside…." Julius thought for a moment, and then nodded. "If we play our cards right, talk to Laughlin'… we could get out of here."

"That's implying Laughlin' will even come back," Said Cooper. "She might be dead."

"Doubt it. She'll come back for us. I know she will," Said Julius, before cracking his neck. "Besides, I'm sure with the help of the 6-4, Whip is done for."

"I sure hope so, because otherwise, we're fucked."

"Thanks," said Laughlin', and the sim-pilot nodded. "How did you do that?"

"I shifted us both. You might feel a bit queasy for a bit, but you should be good," said the sim-pilot, wincing at the sound of bullets flying over his head. "I'm John, by the way. John Breaker."

"Laughlin'. Nice to meet you," Said Laughlin', and John reached for his sim-pad.

"Going to call in my titan," Said John, and Laughlin' shook her head.

"You do that, and we're fucked. I'm under-cover right now in the IMC, and if they detect me near a militia titanfall, they'll blow my brains out as soon as I get back to the Andromeda."

"Fair. So what do we do with this bitch?" asked John, and Laughlin' stopped for a moment, thinking.

"Can you phase shift in close? Distract her while she's engaging me?" asked Laughlin', and John nodded.

"Can do. Anything else?"

"Let me kill her."

"Gotcha. We'll send this bitch back to wherever the fuck she came from," Said John, before phase shifting away. Laughlin' jumped out of the cover, boosting quickly from cover to cover. Every time Whip almost got a shot off at her, John would fly out of god knows where, and deliver a menacing punch. Even when Whip would compensate for his attacks, he always had the drop on her. Meanwhile, Laughlin' kept on boosting towards Whip, getting in very close. Whip grappled away, but John flew out of his phase, grabbing the rope, and swinging Whip straight into the sky, and back down onto the ground. A crack was heard, and Whip groaned, getting up. Her jump-kit had been broken, as well as her grapple gear. She looked around, just in time to see Laughlin' sprint towards her, knife in hand.

Whip countered, pushing the stabbing hand of Laughlin' upwards, and delivering a punch to Laughlin's ribcage. Laughlin' recoiled, and jumped away, as John came around with the rest of Whip's grapple-rope, and wrapped it around Whip's neck. Whip spun herself out of the grab, and swiped John's legs out from under him. Before she could curb stomp the sim pilot, he phase shifted, and Laughlin' flew back at Whip, driving the blade into Whip's spine. Whip buckled, and hit the ground, screeching in pain, her legs completely devoid of any control.

"Well, well, Whip. Whose the better pilot now?" Asked Laughlin', rolling Whip over.

"That's not fair! There were two of you!" shouted Whip, and Laughlin' chuckled, tossing the knife in her hand.

"All is fair in love and war, my dear. Now the question is, how will I kill you?"

"You won't kill me… you don't like killing!" shouted Whip, hyperventilating. "Remember all the times you and I had! When we were the Hunters! Remember our rally call! 'We are the Hunters!' Don't you remember! Please remember!"

Laughlin' could hear Whip's hyperventilating turn into sobs. "I just don't want to die… please don't kill me…please… I just… I just want to see my parents again."

Laughlin' just stared down at Whip, her eyes sorrow less. Whip continued to cry, sobbing violently. John stood beside Laughlin', looking at her.

"Mama….Mama please wake me up…I don't wanna die…please…mama…" Whip's sobbing continued, and Laughlin' sighed.

"Yeah, I remember the times we were The Hunters," Said Laughlin', sparking a glimmer of hope in Whip.

"Really?"

"Yeah…" Said Laughlin', turning around. She quietly activated her advanced jump kit, the engines spurring up. "But times have changed."

"N-No… We can go back to being the hunters!" Shouted Whip. "Us! Together!"

"No, we can't," Said Laughlin', her knee braces connecting the ground below her. "I'm the hunter, now."

Laughlin's advanced boosters fired, sending a massive shockwave of pure heat at Whip's body. Whip screamed in agony, as her suit melted into her body, flames buffeting all around her. Laughlin' amped up the power on her jump-kit, drowning out the screams, as the jets were so powerful they literally tore off Whip's head, melting it as it hit the ground. The jets subsided, and Laughlin' released her knee braces, sighing. She then turned to John, cracking her neck.

"Now that we got that out of the way… you wanna break some pilots out of jail?" asked Laughlin', and John laughed.

"I… I have other mission goals, Laughlin'… I'd love to, but…"

"C'mon, it'll be fun! Lots of explosions, high chance of dying! Hey, we might even run into General Marder himself! Or even Kuben Blisk!"

John sighed, and looked around. "Briggs, this is Breaker, over?"

" _Go ahead Breaker."_

"I've got a Militia pilot by the name of Laughlin' here who says she can get two detained pilots out of the _Andromeda_ ," Said John.

" _Laughlin', do you copy?"_

Laughlin' quickly changed the channel from Blisk to Briggs. "I copy."

" _If you can get Cooper and Jules out of the Andromeda, do so. But if there isn't a high chance, leave it. Link with the 6-4_ , _and continue with the mission of scouting. We've got good intel that there may be a possible fold weapon on the planet, of an even more powerful variant than the one on Typhon. We need to make sure that the IMC don't get their hands on it, how copy?"_

"Hard copy Briggs. I can get them out," Said Laughlin', smiling.

" _Bring our boys home, Valentina. Out."_

Laughlin' turned towards John, and smiled. "How do you feel like being my prisoner."

John groaned. "Oh, for fuck's sakes…"


End file.
